Oracles
by Indy Croft
Summary: Lara must find a Grecian artifact that will stop an ancient evil from destroying mankind (Set after the Movie)
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I don't own the heroes, the mythological characters that are unknown to everyone else are obviously mine, and there are some people who really exist today (to my current knowledge) and they belong to themselves. This is for fun, so please don't sue me.  
  
Note: This is my first Tomb Raider fic, but not my first fan fic. I have no problem with flames, and critiques are welcome. I apologize for any grammatical errors, or errors I have in characterization. I'm just trying to break in the word with this new story topic.  
  
Ok, now you can begin reading the story.  
  
Oracles  
  
  
  
The orrery shuddered behind her as she watched with much amusement Powell trying to connect the two halves of the triangle.  
  
"Not quite what you hoped for, Mr. Powell?" Powell's shoulders shook with anger as he spoke to Lara, stood, and threw the knife into Alex's chest. The man staggered and fell into the water. As another planet came around, Lara watched Alex become snagged and he screamed before he was dragged under. But Lara wasn't afraid. She knew what would happen. A part of her knew this was a dream. So she walked away. Alex flailed under the water then went still. Lara kept on walking, walked through Powell, through the floating triangle, through her father, and Alex was in front of her again. He smiled. She glared. As if admitting defeat, he bowed his head. Then his hand shot up, gripped her throat, crushing the air trying to get in to her empty lungs. His head lifted, and his mouth oozed with blood, as his eyes glowed a murderous rouge.  
  
"Thank you for your ignorance." Her neck snapped.  
  
Lara fell out of bed. Looking around frantically, she found herself to be in her bedroom, sunlight filtering through the windows. Her silk sheets lay in a heap about her tangled legs. 'Bugger.' She kicked the sheets away and rose to her feet. After a few moments of stretching, she moved down to the kitchen where Hillary was preparing eggs and French toast.  
  
"Morning, Lady Croft. I trust you slept well."  
  
"Good morning, Hillary." She considered mentioning her rude wake up call, and decided to stay silent. Bryce wouldn't let up for weeks. She inhaled the strong aroma of her fresh cup of coffee, and smiled. She took a sip and sat at the table to read the Times. Hillary placed a plate before her, covered with two eggs, two slices of his French toast, and a cup of fruit.  
  
"Thank you, Hilly." She took a bite, and looked at the front page.  
  
And nearly choked.  
  
"What in the name of God…" There, under a large bold heading that screamed '10,000 dead: Plague or Curse?', was a terrifying picture of a massacre. Bodies were strewn in the streets, surrounded by police tape and people in full out gas protection uniforms. Lara's appetite sank as she continued reading the article.  
  
'Last night, a green haze swept over the cities of Corinth, Patrai, Volvos, Larisa, Piraeus, Eutoea, and Athens, leaving 10, 000 civilians dead, and hundreds dying. No doctors can name the source of the sudden outbreak of bacteria, but it is an airborne threat that kills in hours. It was detected by satellite radar at 10:30 last night, slowly spreading from earth vents at Delphi. There was no warning or notification declaring this as terrorist related. Government officials believe that it is not a terrorist group, but a deadly outbreak of a new disease.  
  
"It is a mixture of toxic gases and substances that were buried years ago during a routine military mission that went arry," Rome's General of War Bentilio Marcus stated firmly in a press conference early this morning. "The substance, a compound of lithium and phosperous, is not dangerous to humans who come in contact with it. However, we believe that polutents dumped into the atmosphere and the soil have formed a toxic reaction that has spread with amazing speed and killed without warning. Right now, the best scientists and biochemists from every country in the world are working nonstop to find a vaccine and a way to stop it before it kills again. Though there are no facts to support the conclusion, it is believed that if a vaccine does not appear, every country in the earth will be affected within three days.  
  
Citizens of Greece and archeologists in the area believe differently, and argue that this is not an act of science, but a curse brought about when a recent expedition removed artifacts from Delphi that were believed to hold powers of the ancient Grecian gods. Tony Cruzan says, "Those artifacts were hidden below Delphi for thousands of years, and were never touched because of a curse that would wipe out the entire world." The artifacts taken consisted of mirrors, pottery, ancient scrolls, and a sword made out of pure gold, with ancient markings and a perfectly cut sunfire diamond in the shape of the sun.' Lara put the paper down slowly, her eyes transfixed on a point at the wall.  
  
"Lara, what's up?" Bryce asked as he looked up for the first time from his latest book on military technology.  
  
"They took the Cachexia Sword."  
  
"The what?" Bryce's face mirrored his confusion. But Lara didn't answer for she had already run out of the kitchen and to the Pope's Study room, where thousands of archeological books sat in wait for her. Her fingers flew over the various titles, fluttering from shelf to shelf until she found it. From the third shelf she pulled out Greek Gods and Warriors. She flipped to the index, and scanned for the Cachexia Sword.  
  
"Gotcha." Her fingers flew over to the indicated page, and before her was the painted picture of the sword, molded in gold, the hilt covered in intricately laid jewels, and a large orange diamond in the shape of the sun pressed into the center of the sword. There was a whistle behind her.  
  
"Damn, that's one helluva sword. Quite stunning." Bryce tapped his fingers on the chair he leaned against. "What is it?"  
  
She handed the book to Bryce, her focus forward but really on nothing, and she walked to the windows.  
  
"Ok, then," Bryce said, and began skimming. "The Cachexia sword. A mystical artifact, full of wonder and power. Some say it was created by the same being that created Excalibur. It was used in 2300 BC by a warrior named Cabala. He was born with the power of the fight, and by 12 was leading men to battle. He fought bravely for Greece in the wars that divided the lands of Europe. In the final war of the Greeks and the Cretens, Cabala led them all to a last battle that would decide the fate of the Greeks. This battle took place at the temples at Delphi. The dawn before the fight, he swore enternal loyalty to Apollo, god of the sun, in return for a sign that would bear the powers of the greek gods, and ensure victory amongst Cabala and his warriors. He received the Cachexia sword. It was made of pure gold, threaded from the rays of the sun, and the hilt had a gem for each of the gods on Olympus, with a tiny bit of their power woven into each glittering jewel. And in the middle of the sword was a diamond shaped like the bright glowing sphere in the heavens, and burned yellow from the sun. This was Apollo's power, and the sword throbbed with heat that burned and glowed with light that blinded the enemy. After they won, Cabala was given land and named king of Greece at 18. By this time, he was dangerously handsome, and could kill without a doubt. But his heart was made of gold as brilliant as his magical sword. These traits appealed to the goddess of the moon, Artemis. Secretly, she would slip away at night to see him. One night, Cabala asked Artemis to make him immortal so she could become his wife, but Artemis didn't have that power. So he swore his heart and soul to her. Touched by his compassion, Artemis created a bow and set of arrows made of silver. In the middle of the bow, she placed a sapphire shaped like the moon. 'If ever Apollo's gift does wrong, this will return everything to a blissful state.' This gift became known as the Crescent Bow.  
  
"Hermes, messenger of the gods, spotted her one time while taking a message to Hades, and immediately told Apollo. This angered her brother, for Cabala broke his loyalty to him. In a fit of anger and jealousy, Apollo sent a curse on Cabala, destroying the two things he swore to Artemis. The sun god's cure stole his soul and turned his heart of gold to black lead. The kingdom soon collapsed, and thousands died at the insanity their king suddenly portrayed when he turned into a soulless beast. Cabala's sword became a symbol of death, of destruction, and became as cursed as he. Artemis, who's special bow could reverse Cabala's curse, never knew that Apollo was the cause of Cabala's insanity, and turned her back to him in disgust. Heartbroken at his feral nature, the goddess through the bow and magical arrows to the sea, and let them sink beneath the waves. When finally Cabala was destroyed by a thunderbolt from Zeus, Apollo took his body and his soul and placed it at Delphi, trapping it under a stone with an inscription reiterating Cabala's oath of loyalty to the sun god. Upon this inscription, the Cachexia sword was pounded into the ground, piercing Cabala's lead heart to keep him there for eternity as punishment for his betrayal. For all those who try and remove the sword, an evil plague is said to be released from Cabala's rotting corpse. This plague will wash over the lands and destroy all it touches. Then, with the aid of a human sacrifice, Cabala will rise again to reclaim his place on the throne." Bryce made a little humming sound as he looked up from the colorful pictures. "Well, it's a lovely bedtime story."  
  
"It's not a story, Bryce. It's a curse come back to kill us because some archeologists took the sword. Didn't you read the paper today?" He shook his head, and she quickly relayed the story.  
  
"Oh, joy. What a way to start the day."  
  
"Bryce, look up all the information you can get on the Crescent Bow."  
  
"Isn't it just a myth?"  
  
"Of course, just like the Cachexia sword." Bryce winced.  
  
"Right. And how exactly is a bunch of arrows going to stop a spreading plague?"  
  
"I don't know. Yet." She walked over to the phone, picked it up, and dialed a number. "Croft. I need another favor."  
  
2 hours later  
  
Bryce was typing wildly across the keyboard as Lara finished up her routine exercise with Simon… with blanks, at Bryce's command. When she came out, Simon looked relatively unharmed, much to his relief.  
  
"Anything?" Lara asked as she wiped the sweat from her brow.  
  
"Not yet. Most is just fictional information, stories and legends."  
  
"Keep looking." Then she walked off for her shower. When she was drying her hair and fixing it into her trademark braid, she heard a sudden whoop from downstairs.  
  
"It's about time." There was a soft chi-chi-chi-chi coming from outside. "And right on time. Perfect." Quickly she tied the end of her hair, reached for her backpack, and hurried down into the lobby. Hillary was looking outside and Bryce was ripping pages from the printer as the chopper outside landed.  
  
"We have company," Hillary commented as Bryce ran over and thrust the papers in Lara's hand.  
  
"Got everything! Some centuries after Christ, a group of nomadic Arabian sailors found a silver bow and arrows in Crete, each bearing the mark of a sapphire crescent moon. They took it back to their ruler, the Sultan Kashieja, and he had it buried with him in an underground palace in the country of Oman."  
  
"You're a good man, Bryce." There was a loud gong from the door bell.  
  
"I'll get it," Hillary said and immediately moved to answer the door. A tall black man in a navy uniform stepped in. He was built like an ox, with muscles clearly showing under his crisp white outfit.  
  
"Lady Croft?"  
  
"Yes?" Lara stepped up.  
  
"Shugrave sent me. I'm Lieutenant Jackson Wells. I'll be your personal transport to where ever you need to go, for as long as you need me." Lara smiled brightly. Hillary moved to take the gentleman's hat. Bryce gaped.  
  
"What interesting connections you have, Lara." She nodded.  
  
"Hurry up and pack, Bryce. We'll leave in one hour."  
  
"Aww, Lara, why can't I just stay here? We can use the comm link," he whined. Ever since the whole Illuminati business, when she made him go with her to Iceland, he made it a point not to attend her various expeditions anymore. She quirked her eyebrow, and glared.  
  
"Bryce. Don't start. This is serious." He sighed and lifted his hands in defeat.  
  
"All right, all right." He walked out the door to his trailer.  
  
"Where will we be going, Lady Croft?"  
  
"Set your plans for Omar. We're going to pay a visit to the Sultan. And call me Lara." She turned to Hillary, who stood quietly with a concerned look on his face. "Hilly, please get me a phone. I have to call to let them know I'm coming. Then I want you to pack, and get on the next flight back to Westshire. I want you to stay with your family until I come back."  
  
"Of course." A shadow of a smile passed his lips as he turned to leave the room.  
  
  
  
Warmth. Everything was warm. How odd. It's been cold for so long. What a sensational feeling. In the darkness of the earth, something growled. It moved slightly, nothing more than a twitch. But it smiled with delight. It moved again, making dust fly from it's mashing bones. It moved its decayed hand to the sword, and found it gone. Some took the sword. A deep rumbling laugh shook the ground, cracking the stone tablet holding the creature inside. The destruction of earth had begun.  
  
  
  
The palace was located in the capital of Oman, Masqat. Here, when Wells landed the helicopter, she was meet by palace guards who escorted her to the conference room. Bryce, at her request, was taken to a room where he could set up his computers for when she went into the tomb. All around, the room was decorated in gold and jewels. Priceless paintings adorned the walls, and various artifacts were set in glass cabinets. In one cabinet, a particular object caught her eye, and she smiled at the memory. Shining brightly in the slanting sunlight of the afternoon sun, the dagger of Xian sat poised like the gold snake wrapped around it. Lara remembered hearing it auctioned off the day she took the Clock to her beloved friend and father figure, Mr. Wilson. Her smile faded as she remembered finding in the paper news of his murder. Then a door opened, and a warm voice called to her.  
  
"Lady Croft, welcome to Oman!" Lara turned to see the polite Arabian Sultan Qaboos bin Said dressed in fashionable but hinting at casual clothes. He came over and kissed her left cheek then her right.  
  
"Good afternoon, Sultan. Thank you for seeing me on such short notice."  
  
His smile faded. "I wish it could be under better circumstances." He gestured for her to have a seat, and she gladly accepted. "I noticed you looking at the dagger. I must confess, I'm a lover of Chinese artifacts, and quite impressed by your work."  
  
"Thank you, I'm flattered you follow my expeditions."  
  
Sultan Qaboos cleared his throat and his voice became grave as he focused on the crisis at hand. "So, you said I may be able to help stop this deadly disease?"  
  
"Yes," Lara said as she leaned on the table and folded her hands. "There's a legendary bow and set of arrows made of silver that are rumored to have the ability to reverse the affects of the plague." Lara pulled out the small packet of papers Bryce had printed up for her earlier. "Apparently, a long time ago, the bow and arrows were brought here during the reign of Sultan Kashieja, and they were entombed with him when he was buried." Qaboos took the papers and flipped through them.  
  
"Ye, I am aware his burial place is in the underground palace beneath our tallest mountain, Al Jabal al Akhdar."  
  
Lara nodded. "Time is of the essence for all of us. You know the terrain better than I do. What is the fastest way to the mountain?"  
  
"Transportation by vehicle will take more than a day with the rock terrain and desert valleys. My advice, take a helicopter and parachute down to the base of the mountain. Then, once you retrieve the artifacts, radio back here and the helicopter will return with a pickup crane to bring you back."  
  
Lara nodded her approval with a smile. "Brilliant idea, your highness. I'm impressed with how quickly you developed that plan."  
  
He laughed and stood. "It wasn't mine. A fellow raider came up with it not an hour ago. He actually looks forward to working with you." He walked over to the door leading to the balcony.  
  
Lara smiled, but groaned inwardly. 'Ugh, I don't want to see Alex right now. The incorrigible bastard, not even a phone call since that dinner after Iceland.' She stood and turned to collect her papers.  
  
"Hello, Lara."  
  
'What the bloody hell?' Her back went ramrod straight, and she slowly turned, shock mirroring in her eyes. For a moment, she was speechless as he walked to her, his dusty blonde hair as unruly as ever. Blue eyes smirked at her, his accented facial features set in a cocky smile that was surrounded by a rough blonde goatee. Her eyebrow arched, and finally she smiled as her voice returned to her.  
  
"Chase Carver, well I'll be damned." 'What is he doing here?'  
  
"Hey Sexy. How've you been?" Standing before her, he extended his hand in a professional gesture, and she returned it. Then he leaned down to whisper in her ear. "I've missed you." He gently kissed her cheek, and Lara felt momentarily embarrassed.  
  
"Still stealing hearts as easily money, I see."  
  
A wide smile creased his face. "Are you implying I've stolen yours?"  
  
"My heart? When hell freezes over. My money? Religiously." Lara was deftly amused at his hurt expression.  
  
"Still sore about that poker game, eh?" He scratched his head and his face grimaced in guilt.  
  
"Oh, no, of course not, Chase. You only lost 500,000 pounds of my money."  
  
"Come on, Honey! They spiked my drink, I'm positive!" he pleaded.  
  
Lara rolled her eyes and brushed past him. "Didn't you give me that excuse when we went dinosaur hunting near Albuquerue? When you lost 325,000 pounds of my money on a game of blackjack?" She stepped outside and looked up to see the sun falling from its zenith.  
  
Chase thought it best not to respond on that topic.  
  
"So you came up with this idea to take a chopper to Al Jabal al Akhdar, right? It's a good plan. We should leave quickly." She looked at her watch before turning to leave for Bryce's room. 


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: They're not mine, thank you.  
  
Various monitors were set around the luxurious room the Sultan offered for Bryce to use. Lara had a room next door. Bryce was busy scanning in a map of the area and comparing it shots taken from a military satellite he had a knack of linking up to.  
  
"How does it look?" Lara asked as she walked behind the computer whiz sitting on the bed.  
  
"The terrain looks rough, but there should be no problem getting vehicles though."  
  
"We're not taking vehicles," she said quietly as she looked closely at the mountain they were going under. "The mountain sides look pretty jagged," she mummered.  
  
"Wait a minute." Bryce turned to look at her. "You're not taking vehicles? What are you going to do, fly?"  
  
She smiled at him. "Exactly, and then we parachaute down."  
  
Bryce gulped and his eyes widened. "We?" he stuttered. "I thought I was staying here!"  
  
Lara laughed. He was so cute when he looked frantic. Just like the ten year old boy he'd always be. "Relax, Bryce. You're staying here. I'm going in with an old friend."  
  
"Uh, oh. Alex showed up, eh?" Bryce clucked his tongue. "Don't kill him, we may need to sacrifice him later."  
  
Lara slapped his shoulder. "Not West, you git." She rolled her eyes as an odd rush of anger burned behind her eyes. "As if I'd ever work again with that two-bit, money hungry, egotistical, self-deluded bastard."  
  
Bryce got the hint and backed off. "So, who's going with you?"  
  
"Chase Carver."  
  
"That sleazy money snitcher you dated? When did he suddenly develop an interest in saving the world?"  
  
Lara raised her hand up, threatening to slap him again. "You want a fresh one?" she chided. "And for your information, Bryce, we never dated, nor will we ever date, in this lifetime or in any other one we happen to exist in."  
  
"Ok, ok." He turned back to the monitor. "Anyway, I've found a small cave, here, at the base of the mountain. I'm assuming you and, uh, Mr. Carver, can get to the underground palace through here."  
  
Lara's eyes studied the minute hole on the screen. "Never assume, Bryce. Chase and I are leaving soon, and I want you on the comm link. Call me if you find any other passages that may be useful."  
  
Bryce nodded, and Lara left the room.  
  
"You ready to go?" Carver stood in the open palace garden, a small knapsack over his shoulder and uzis packed at his sides.  
  
"Bryce, you there?" Lara tapped on the comm link as she adjusted the strap on her left shoulder.  
  
"Yeah. Ready to save the world? Again?"  
  
Lara smiled. "Absolutely." She took her .45 colts from her holsters, checked them again, then spun them back in with a satisfying thwap! She walked over to Chase as she fixed her sunglasses against the cruel afternoon glare.  
  
Ahead of the two adventurers, Wells had the helicopter up and running. They boarded, gave a thumbs up to the Sultan, and ascended into the sky.  
  
"So," Chase sighed. "What's going on, doll?"  
  
Lara glared. "Doll?" She made a mental note to beat him down after they saved the world. Speaking of saving the world…  
  
"Chase. What are you doing here in Oman?"  
  
He looked at her like she lost her mind. "What? I'm here to get the Artemis artifacts."  
  
"Yes, but why?" Lara knew it couldn't be out of the goodness of his heart. No, not this rouge who cheated and stole for a living. Not Chase, who lived on the edge… of a poker table, mostly.  
  
"You didn't hear about it? The world is going to hell in a hand basket."  
  
Lara's eyebrows rose of their own accord. "Yes, I am aware of that." Maybe he did have a good heart in there, somewhere.  
  
"Yep." Chase settled back in his seat and put his hands behind his head. "And there's a mighty big reward for a tomb raider who can stop this gas stuff that's killing everyone."  
  
Lara's heart sank. Of course. She shook her head and laughed dryly. "You think you'll get the reward, Chase? I thought you said it was only for tomb raiders." Chase faked being stabbed in the heart.  
  
"Oh, that hurt."  
  
"10 minutes till we reach our destination!" Wells called from the front. "Pack up your stuff and get ready to dive."  
  
Lara and Chase did just that. Lara tightened her holsters and tossed her sunglasses into her pack. Then she strapped on her parachute. A rye smile spread her luscious lips as she watched Chase struggle with the snaps on his chute.  
  
"God damn." He kept putting the wrong straps together, making the chute too tight, too loose, or crooked to where he couldn't figure out which part was right side up.  
  
"Here." Lara fixed it under his arms and across his chest where she helped make it stay put. When she finished, she looked up to see his face inching closer to hers.  
  
"Thanks," he whispered. And he moved his lips to hers.  
  
Only to meet with the barrel of her .45.  
  
"Chase. Don't even think about it." She grinned as she tapped her gun on his chin. "If you try anything, we may not be able to remain friends," she quoted from a time not long ago. An image came to her when she was standing just like this, only with Alex before her. And quite naked, he was. Her eyebrow arched at the memory.  
  
"Whatcha thinking about?" Chase asked lowly.  
  
Lara smiled, and gave him a very sexy look. "Being frisked." She stopped the bark of laughter that almost burst from her lips at his completely shocked expression.  
  
"What the f-"  
  
"Alright, 1 minute to go!" Chase looked annoyed when Wells cut him off, but he had no more time to think of the interesting turn in conversation as Lara moved to the open door.  
  
"Let's go, Carver! Be careful where you land, the mountain side is sharp!" She jumped.  
  
It reminded her of her relaxing bungee ballet, only this time she had no ropes to bring her back up. The wind brushed her braid up into the air, and it flapped wildly. Soon, Chase was next to her, falling with all the style of a bird shot down. She watched as he wobbled a bit in the air before he got a somewhat steady grip on falling gracefully. Lara, never one to pass up an opportunity for showing off, threw herself into a dive and she fell quickly past Chase. Then she executed a few flips, and stopped herself so she was facing the sky.  
  
Chase glared at her.  
  
Lara grinned back. She tossed herself into another back flip, spun to face the ground, and released her chute.  
  
"Hey, Lara. You still there?" Bryce's voice cut in through the wind wiping into the chute.  
  
"Yeah, Bryce." She watched Carver release his chute, and he slowly began to drift after her.  
  
"Ok, I looked around and the entrance I showed you earlier was the only one I found."  
  
Good, at least we know where to get in. "Have you found anything that may help us find our way around?"  
  
"Zilch, my dear. Looks like your on your own for this one. Sorry."  
  
"Exploring is the best part." Lara focused on the ground. 20 feet. "Let me know if you get anything new." 10 feet. "And stay out of trouble." Her feet padded softly on the ground as the chute folded down behind her.  
  
"Speak for yourself, Tomb Raider. Watch your back."  
  
Lara unhooked the chute from her back, the pack falling to the ground unheeded. She surveyed the mountain, and noticed a small crevice about 30 some feet away.  
  
"Augh!" Chase crashed into the ground. "Bugger!"  
  
Lara turned to see the large white cloth tumble down around her companion, who was struggling to get out.  
  
"Christ, I'm stuck!"  
  
Men. Lara shook her head and lifted up the sheet to get him out. Then she had to cut him loose, as the cords had wrapped around his arms.  
  
"You're gonna cause me more trouble than the tomb itself," she grumbled.  
  
Chase shrugged. "So, where do we get in?"  
  
"There, between those rocks." Lara reached into the pack for a chemflare. "Let's go."  
  
  
  
The cave was dark, musty, and quite warm. The walls were shaved rock, smooth and soft to the touch. Along the floor, jagged pieces of rock pointed up like the fingers of the undead trapped in hell. After about ten minutes of quiet wandering, Chase stopped to light his flare along the right wall. There were markings, faded and covered in cobwebs, but still legible.  
  
"Hey, Lara. Can you read'em?" Chase asked as his face crunched up in a frown.  
  
The tall beauty stepped up next to him, closely observing the pictographs. She, too, frowned. "Odd. They're not of any language I know." She lightly traced her fingers over a picture of three sticks, one with a dagger like object, one with an arrow, and one with a bow. The sticks, which Lara assumed was people, stood in a triangle shape, with two eyes glaring from the middle. As Chase moved his flare, the eyes lit up and seemed to glow a vibrant red. But as quickly as the glow came, it was gone. She moved her eyes away from the picture, and scanned the rest of the wall. The characters looked Greek, but were written differently than what she herself knew.  
  
"Hey, I think this is a picture of a rat." Chase sounded amused, and pleased with himself.  
  
"A rat?" Lara asked flatly. "Thrilling." She glanced over the wall once more, ensuring that there were no words she could read, and that there were no distinct warnings. She turned her head to the left, intending to continue down the path. "Let's go." She took a few steps forward as Chase followed quietly, when something caused the hair on the back of her neck to rise. She stopped.  
  
"What is it?" Carver asked.  
  
"Did you see that? A flicker, down the cave." She drew her gun in her left hand and pointed ahead. She glimpsed Chase shaking his head.  
  
"Nah, I didn't see a thing." A smile resembling that of a wolf spread across his lips. "Getting jumpy there, gorgeous? Don't tell me your getting cold feet now."  
  
Lara turned slightly and smiled at him. "I have no reason to get cold feet, Mr. Carver. I have you to throw in my way if something comes at me." Keeping her gun in hand, she continued down the path, deeper into the cave.  
  
"Wait a minute. Did you just say you'd sacrifice me for your own benefit?"  
  
"Well, you did sacrifice a lot of money at the poker table, at my expense."  
  
Chase sighed in exasperation. "Must you keep bringing that up? I didn't mean to lose all that money. I mean, seriously, I think that game was rigged. I think I was cheated out of my money."  
  
"I thought they spiked your drink. And that money was never yours." Lara listened with a slight smile as Chase babbled an excuse about the alcohol and the cheating, trying to clear himself of the blame. Not long after, they came into a very open cavern. The ceiling must have reached up about 500 feet, and below the thin wisps of walkways before them, the cavern dropped into a large, black, and presumably quite deep abyss. Along the walls, torches burned brightly, lighting the room in an orange red glow. In the center of the room stood a replica of the temple of Athena. Stone statues of Greek warriors were molded onto pillars around the front, and clay figures of hideous creatures, half man half animal beings, crawled in frozen time on the dusty floor. From the center of the small temple, there was a soft glow, silver and cold. Lara's head tilted to the side and she could make out a curved object, shaped like the moon. She smiled. 'The crescent bow.'  
  
"Wow," Chase muttered. Hanging from sticks erected along the walkways were skeletons, some have decayed, some completely decomposed to the bone. The handsome explorer stepped forward and pulled at the clothing. "Uh, Lara."  
  
"Yes?" she asked as she knelt on the floor to examine something. Her fingers drifted in a line a few inches from the ground before her head moved to look along the walls.  
  
"These guys… their clothing is, uh, modern."  
  
Lara's other hand moved to trace along the floor, edging out a line. Sand fell into the crack, and she pulled a knife from her boat. "Define modern," she replied distractedly as she pressed the tip of the blade into the black line.  
  
"I'd say America, 1980's." Chase turned sharply as there was a loud hiss and ear piercing high pitched creak. From the ceiling, a pendulum like metal box with jagged ends swung down in a wide arc, it's base barely missing Lara's ducked head, before it swung up again into the darkness. The room went quiet.  
  
"Be careful where you step." She pointed at little crosses along the walkways. "Avoid stepping near those. They mark where the traps are." She stood and stepped over the line, causally making her way to the ruggish man. "Now, what were you saying?"  
  
Chase pointed to the skeleton, hanging from a spear through his chest. "This guy. His clothes. They look 80ish. Rather recent."  
  
Lara looked at the clothing, nodded, and moved on. "Yep."  
  
"Well, doesn't that bother you?"  
  
"Should it?" Lara moved closer to the temple, mindful of the floor. As she came to the center floor and stood five feet from the temple steps, she turned her head to examine the other pathways. There were six in all. The two on the left and right had a small pillar at the end, with a shiny object on top. The path behind the temple was black and disappeared into a dark passage.  
  
"I'd think. I mean, how did this guy get up here? His feet are off the ground, so I don't think-"  
  
"This place is filled with deadly traps, Carver. He wasn't careful." She stepped closer to the stone warriors, observing the carvings. Her mind drifted for a moment to the Tomb of the Dancing Light, and the stone monkeys that tried to cut her head off. A glint caught her face, and she winced a bit at the sharp light. Moving her head, she focused on the object in the temple. Carefully climbing each step, chemflare in hand, she walked into the tiny room. In the center was a thick white pillar. Four symbols were carved at the base. On the top, a large silver box, etched with intricate pictures and diamonds, stood erect and silent, silvery light streaming from above to caress it in a heavenly glow. Carver stepped up behind her, and whistled softly.  
  
"Damn. Now that'll be worth a pretty penny." He reached his hand out to touch it.  
  
"No!" Lara snapped as she seized his wrist and pulled. Not a second too soon, a blade sliced the air, whirring like a saw. It shot out from the pillar, and when it retracted, four spiked gates made of silver fell from above, encasing the chest. There was a low rumbling, and Lara looked down as the floor began to shake. The sand was shifting, falling into cracks that were suddenly forming. One was forming right below their feet, and Lara yanked on his arm to pull him back. "Get out of here!"  
  
"What?" He was too busy watching the cracks form in the walls.  
  
"Go!" She pulled on him again and they jumped from the top step just as numerous blades shot from the floor and walls with a loud swish. They rotated quickly, before sinking back into the crevices with a quiet click.  
  
"Well, that wasn't too bad. Now how do we get into past the gates?" Just as he finished his question, the blades shot out again, whirred, and disappeared. "I take that back."  
  
Lara waited. They shot out again. Looking at her watch, she waited. Thirty seconds passed, and the blades whirred again. "We have to stop the blades from retracting." Her eyes roamed around the temple, and settled back inside, on the four etchings. Their shapes were distinct and deep, as if something went inside. She smiled a bit, and looked at to the left. At the end of the walkway, an object reflected in the dancing torch light. A familiarly shaped object.  
  
"Any ideas, tomb raider?"  
  
Lara rose to her feet and walked carefully towards the passage on he near left. "We have to collect the key pieces, put them around the pillar, and that should get us to the chest." She looked over her shoulder. "Think you can handle that?"  
  
"Is that all?" Carver whined. "Where's the challenge in that?" He shook his head and began marching to the other left walkway, not watching his feet.  
  
"Watch your step," Lara warned, and she began walking to the end of her passageway, careful of the crosses marking the traps. Though something nagged at her mind. Where was the challenge? She climbed up the few steps at the end, and looked down at the small round object. It was a thick ring, made of gold, with an arrow in the middle. She picked it up, and looked around. Silence. Nothing happened. Lara frowned. This is too easy. Looking over at Chase, she could see he was thinking the same thing. He also picked up a ring, shrugged at her, and walked down the steps.  
  
And all hell broke loose. From the walls, arrows and spear rained down on the two adventurers. Both dove to the floor, and behind Chase the wall seemed to split open as a giant boulder rolled out of the wall. Lara's eyes widened. It was the size of the walkway, with no place for Chase to go to avoid it.  
  
Spotting the giant rock, and without a sound, Chase rolled himself to the right and rolled right off the edge. He gripped the edge with his hands, then swung himself forward and seized a crevice under the passageway as the boulder rolled forward, picking up speed until a part of the walkway collapsed and the disappeared into the abyss, the boulder following suit. Lara looked up to see a row of blades swing down from above, their sharp edges aimed right for her lithe body. Twisting herself longways, the blades skimmed right next to her, brushing up sand as they sliced through the walkway. Flipping backwards onto her feet, she waited until the blades passed again before she stepped forward, waited, stepped forward, and continued this way until she was back at the center. She noticed Carver climbing back up on the walkway and making a running jump to get over the gap.  
  
"That was fun!" Chase huffed. "What now?"  
  
"Put the pieces up there, into the key holes. Keep track of the time, thirty seconds between rotations." Lara pressed the piece into his hand, and began toward the third pathway. She examined the walls and ceiling, looking for tips to where the traps were laid. She softly climbed the three steps, and picked up the piece, which looked the same as the last, only the arrow was pointing in the opposite direction of the first. She braced herself for the next danger, and her sensitive eyes caught movement in the walls. Dust was falling in sheets as dark holes appeared. There was a spurting sound, and a flame shot out of the wall in an intense burst of heat. Lara dodged, and was forced to press herself against the pillar as flames rose from the floor. The arms of flames formed a triangle around her, closing her in, and they were slowly burning closer.  
  
'Oh, dear.' With little time to go, and the flames already making her sweat, Lara looked around for a way out. The flames from the floor were too high to jump over, and she couldn't jump to the next passage way as it was too far. The only thing she could do was back herself against the wall and wait until the flames consumed her. And that was not good.  
  
"Lara!" Chase stood at the end of the passageway, looking frantic and confused. He took a step forward, but Lara shouted at him to stop.  
  
"Don't worry about me! Get the other piece!"  
  
"No!" he shouted defiantly.  
  
"Go, you git! I'm fine!" As fine as anyone could be while being cornered by flames. She turned away from Carver's screams and looked around again. She was now being pushed back to stand three feet from the wall, and the flames weren't stopping. She stared at the wall, at its smooth surface, and for a moment felt a rush of panic. But her eyes drifted upwards and noticed a few cracks in the wall, just large enough for her to get her hand into.  
  
'Ah ha.' Tossing the key into her pack, and then tightening the straps, she stepped as close to the flames as she dared, before throwing herself forward into a short sprint. As she hit the wall at full speed, she lifted her knees and dug the balls of her feet into the wall, pushing herself up about three feet. Just as her footing began to slip on the smooth surface, she reached her hands up and gripped the cracks, and her body slammed against the wall. 'Ow.' Now the flames were about a foot away, and rose to the height of her waist while pressed against the wall. 'Oh, no you don't.' She squeezed her fingers into the cracks, forced her feet into the wall, climbed into a crouch, and pushed off with as much force as she could. Her hands were thrown out behind her as she straightened her back, then arched a little in a backwards dive. A wave of heat caressed her back as she flipped herself over the tower of flames, and her body tucked then straightened out before landing on her feet. The firewall burned into the rock and disappeared.  
  
"Well, that was easy enough." She turned to see Chase glaring at her before he made his way down the other passage. Lara ran to the temple, waited for the blades to appear and retract, then ran in and pressed the key into the lock, matching shape with shape. She stepped out before getting sliced, and watched Chase pull the last key down. And waited. Nothing happened.  
  
Chase looked at her with another frown. His face read 'shouldn't something be happening now?'  
  
Lara's eyes turned to slits as she moved her head from side to side. Something wasn't right. Something was missing, and was crawling up without her knowing it, ready to pounce.  
  
And then she was on her back as something swept her. Her eyes lifted in time to see an ax swing down at her, and she rolled to the side. Three shots went off, and Lara watched the stone dragon snail creature collapse. It was then she noticed the other statues coming at her.  
  
"Oh, for the love of- can't these ancient tomb creators think up something other than stone warriors?" A spear flew at her, and she seized it in midair, twirled it, and knocked it into the nearest warrior. He stumbled, his head spinning around and collapsing to the ground. Thrusting up from the ground, she slammed the staff in between the warrior's legs, throwing him up in a clumsy back flip, and listening to him crash into another warrior behind him.  
  
Artfully twirling the staff, Lara used deft ducks and fast side steps to overcome the six warriors who surrounded her. Three she knocked over into the abyss, two more she destroyed by thrusting them into each other, and the last she took out with a swift kick to the waist, splitting him in two.  
  
At the other side of the chamber, Chase was busy avoiding arrows and rapidly blowing off clips into the short creatures that slithered across the floor, their teeth barred and mouths oozing with a green substance he couldn't identify. As three dragonettes gathered at his feet, he ran out of bullets, and realized he dropped his extra clips when the boulder came at him earlier.  
  
"Shit!" He looked up and noticed four warriors stalking him at the end of the path, one with a spear, another an axe, and the third two swords. 'Shit shit shit!' He'd have to take out the warriors first, and then use their weapons to destroy the smaller creatures. But his attention was soon diverted from his adversaries as he noticed something moving in the abyss. Giant squid like arms rose from the darkness, and slithered across the floor toward the temple. Then a large round object began to rise from the other side of the chamber, near Lara, who was concentrating on fending off five skeletons that pulled themselves from the stakes.  
  
The thing was slimey and wrinkled, the skin a dark, oily brown that reminded him of the skin of a potato. And as it rose higher, Chase could see a rumple of skin, and below that red eyes, hundreds of red eyes, that burned like rubies in the sunlight. And then a mouth, large and decaying, with rows of jagged teeth. Out of the mouth, twisted tentacles with hook shaped claws.  
  
"Oh my God…" Chase's heart fell to his feet in fear as the creature began to advance on the unaware tomb raider. 'No, no, Lara!' His mouth dropped to call her when a tongue wrapped around his foot and pulled, bringing him to his knees. Then the stone creatures were on top of him, snapping and drooling and hissing. He covered his face and kicked and punched, but he was beginning to feel crushed. With a last bit of effort, he broke his head above the writhing monsters.  
  
"LARA!"  
  
Her head snapped up at the desperate cry from afar, and noticed Chase was surrounded and trapped underneath several stone creatures. She reached into her bag and felt the small round ball of metal. She reached for the pin when a hot brush of air sent her hair flying around her face. She turned to see thousands of spinally arms reaching for as a large gaping hole filled with jagged, spiked teeth fell toward her at incredible speed. And Lara couldn't move fast enough as the creature descended upon her. 


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Still don't own them, so please don't sue me. I'm broke enough as is!  
  
  
  
'Terrific,' was all Lara could think as the giant creature descended toward her, mouth awning and teeth glinting with drool. A rough grunt escaped her as she was seized by one of its flicking tentacles with incredible force, and she was flying to the left as the arm tightened around her. There was a brush of sand and a crushing pain in her shoulder, and she was rolling. Her head snapped back and she was momentarily dazed. Then the arm was pressing down on her, an uncomfortably hot weight that made her short of breath. 'Well, if it's not going to eat me, I guess it'll crush me instead.'  
  
"Fancy meeting you here."  
  
Lara's eyes flew open, and there he was, grinning down at her, his face covered in sand and sweat while his blue eyes blazed with life. And he was holding her too closely for her liking. And he wasn't Chase.  
  
"I think I would have rather taken my chances with the beast," she growled, momentarily forgetting he saved her life. But that moment was soon remembered as something leathery snaked across the ground toward them, bent up into the air, and charged them like a spike. Thrusting her hips up, she forced him to roll onto his back, with her landing on top, as the tentacle drove into the ground with thundering force, right where they had been lying. Not wasting time, Lara removed her pistol and blew the tentacle in half.  
  
"Mmm, I love it when you play the dominant one."  
  
Lara looked back down at the man grinning smugly beneath her, and she played with the idea of shooting off the only that considered him a man, but Chase was still struggling with the stone creatures, there was the artifacts that still needed to be recovered, and there was a very unhappy monster caterpillar like thing roaring about all the commotion that disturbed his sleep.  
  
"Work first, play later," she muttered, and couldn't help smiling at the shocked and, yes, hopeful expression that creased Alex's face. Quickly climbing to her feet, she grabbed hold of the grenade that had fallen from her hands, pulled the pin, and threw it near the five stone creatures clawing away at the helpless raider. She reached in her pack for another one, pulled the pin, and threw it at the monster, which swallowed it just as the first grenade went off. To her left, she saw Alex pull out a desert eagle, and in a few moments, six slithering tentacles had fallen down into the darkness.  
  
"What do you think of that, asshole?!"  
  
Lara actually paused to shake her head, as his exuberant bravado reminded him too much of a wild west cowboy. Something wrapped around her foot so she spun on her heels, aimed, and shot off the hand of a still struggling demon statue. The few she thought she destroyed were piecing themselves back together.  
  
This was becoming difficult.  
  
Lara pulled both guns and began firing away rapidly, trying to force the statues back toward the edge of the abyss. As she reached the ends of her clips, she felt herself walk into Alex's back, and smiled grimly. Better protection, she thought.  
  
"So, how exactly did you get here?" Lara asked conversationally, as another stone dragon disappeared into the pit.  
  
"I was having lunch with Tony Blair and I brought up a," he paused to smack in a new clip, and continued firing. "Possible solution to the Greek plague crisis, and he sent me out here."  
  
Lara paused to risk a glance over her shoulder. "The prime minister of England? You were having lunch with the prime minister of England?"  
  
"You're not the only one who has friends in high social circles."  
  
"That'd be more believable if you had friends." Lara smiled as she could almost sense his scowl. She blasted three more dragons away into the darkness, when there was a loud shout, followed by an equally loud roar, and suddenly everything was shaking. Lara staggered, Alex fell on his ass when she moved away, and Chase was stumbling towards them. It was then she noticed something glimmering in his hands. A silver chest.  
  
"Time to go!" he yelped as he regained his footing and began to sprint for the open passageway.  
  
"Alex! Let's go!" She stood, and took only a few seconds to survey the situation. The monster was angry and breathing fire, and its tentacles were pushing up through the ground, causing the earth to move. It began to split, separating away from the two dark passages that led up top. 'It's trying to strand us here.' Something gripped her hand and she was running, Alex dragging her along, the two dodging tumbling rocks and jumping the expanding gaps that fell thousands of feet into darkness. As they ran from the chamber, Alex suddenly stopped, turned, and began rummaging through her pack.  
  
"Alex, what-" Two grenades were in his hands, he pulled the pins, and rolled them at the wall near the opening of the passage. Without waiting for the warning, Lara ran ahead, Alex close at her heels, and the ground shook again as the grenades exploding, causing thousands of pounds of rocks to tumble to the ground, sealing off at least one entrance into the cave.  
  
When they burst through to the surface, Lara couldn't be more ecstatic to feel the last rays of sunlight as the orange globe began to sink behind the mountain. While the sunset made a breathtaking picture, one she would have wanted to include in her photojournalist papers, she was more interested in the chest, and the treasures inside. She turned her back on the horizon, and was greeted with a rather humorous, though irritating sight.  
  
Standing opposite each other, arms criss-crossed at the elbow, and a gun placed not an inch away from each other's foreheads, were her two male companions. And neither looked happy to have the other there.  
  
"Who the hell are you?" Chase seethed.  
  
"A tomb raider. Who are you?" Alex responded casually.  
  
"A better tomb raider."  
  
Lara smiled lightly. "Boys?"  
  
"I doubt that's very likely, as I am the best tomb raider here."  
  
"Then why aren't you carrying the chest?"  
  
"Boys…" Lara growled.  
  
"Because I was a little busy fending off a rather ugly creature, and rescuing the very lovely damsel in distress."  
  
Chase scoffed. "Don't expect to get anything from it, infant. She's taken."  
  
"Over my dead body."  
  
"Precisely."  
  
And the triggers began to pull back.  
  
Until the barrels of her .45s were simultaneously pressed against each man's temple.  
  
"Children, if we're going to play together, we'll have to be nice," Lara hissed icily. "Now, the guns. Put'em away, or I'll take'em away."  
  
"Sounds like fun," Alex smirked, his eyes never leaving Chase.  
  
"Alex." Her voice held the touch of warning. "Don't start." She looked from man to man, her patience edging toward complete annoyance. "Ahem…"  
  
"Lara, you still there?"  
  
Lara smiled at the distraction from her headpiece. "Hey, Bryce. Welcome back."  
  
"Are you all right? Everybody alive?"  
  
"Yes. All of us."  
  
"Oh, good, I was beginning to-wait, all?"  
  
"Are we having teleport arrive?"  
  
"There's more than two of you now?"  
  
"Bryce." But his answer was cut off as a loud rotating blade chopped the air overhead. 'Ah. Good.' "Never mind that, Bryce. We'll be back in thirty minutes." She holstered her right gun and cut off the comm link. Her left gun twirled in the air for a moment, as she stared down the two unwavering raiders.  
  
"Our lift is here, and unless you intend to climb the ladder attached at the hip, so to speak, I'd suggest losing the weaponry, dropping the egos, and getting it through your heads that I'm not for sale," Lara added a specially tough glare to Alex, "to either of you." She let her words sink in, and continued after a brief pause. "Clear?"  
  
Alex was the first to move. He lifted his gun and held his hands in a gesture of peace. "Hey, your right, Lady Croft. 'Sides, we got a world to save, right?"  
  
"Yes," Chase agreed reluctantly. "That we do." He stepped back and put his gun in his belt. "And a nice round profit to collect," he added with a smug smile.  
  
"Hey! That's mine, so lay off!"  
  
"I got here first!"  
  
Again, both men stood at a draw, guns pressed into each others heads in a most annoying, if not comical, fashion. Lara groaned and put her head in her hands.  
  
This was going to be a long adventure.  
  
Up. Down. Grow. Shrink. What a delightful sight. Never before had such a trivial thing meant so much. But here, now, being alive, it meant everything, having the ability to breath again. But the air was tainted, noxious, downright disgusting. Damn purity. Too much goodness taking place in the world. Not enough hate. Not nearly enough fear. Time to change that.  
  
And the plague breathed with him.  
  
Lara was livid. She was also stressed. She was under a restricted time limit. She was accompanied by two men who kept bickering over the slightest provocation. She was tired, hot, hungry, and in need of a long bath.  
  
And the silver chest did not have the bow or arrows.  
  
Instead, three small scrolls, covered in dust and webs, sat quietly and amazingly well preserved in the center of the chest. After unraveling them, Lara noticed that they were, again, in a language she did not immediately recognize. And nothing bothered her more than missing the piece of a puzzle that was right in front of her. So at the insistance of her microprocessor extraordinaire, Lara retreated to her room to attempt some sleep, as she had been up for more than enough hours, and if she was to overcome this deadly adversary, she needed to be in her best condition, while making a point to avoid the two raiders who seemed so intent on knocking each other off his pedestal. Which was fine with her, both deserved it anyway.  
  
But so many people were dying. Upon their return, Lara learned from Bryce (after he nearly had a conniption fit when he spotted Alex) that the lethal plague had spread across the eastern side of Europe, now hovering near France, had left its mark on the tip of Egypt, and along the north western plains of Russia. Now the death toll was reaching unfathomable numbers, and for one of the few times in her life, Lara felt things spiraling out of control. By tomorrow, it would surely spread to England… and Hillary was still there…  
  
"Bugger." Lara groaned as she rolled her shoulders back, trying to break up the tension in her muscles. Her hands were shaking slightly, twitching with the need to do something, to get somewhere… to feel like she was actually righting this terrible wrong. But she could do nothing until Bryce came up with a translation that would hopefully lead them in the right direction toward the bow, the arrows, and the rescue from extinction. She shuddered involuntarily at the thought of utter destruction. Though death had never scared her before, this wasn't just the simple passing of a single soul. This was genocide.  
  
A breeze brushed the curtains back lightly as she lay upon the satin sheets, and a moonbeam caressed the marble floor. Silver streaks, swirling dust. Ride a little pony through the sparkling snow, and return to the palace that was illuminated with candles. Have tea with the little man in the funny hat, and dance the night away with a blonde haired, blue eyed American.  
  
Lara's eyes began to drift closed as the illusions mingled and lulled her off to sleep.  
  
  
  
Alex was standing across from her in a temple. Neither said anything. They only stared. Then Alex spoke her name. Lara drew her gun. She fired.  
  
"Alex!" Lara leapt up in bed, panting heavily as everything around her shifted back into the mute gray colors of the night. "Bloody hell," she whispered, trying to regain her breath and remember what caused her such a start. But in the moment she woke, her dream was gone. All she knew was that it frightened the hell out of her.  
  
Wide eyed and awake, Lara slipped off the covers of the large bed and walked over to the balcony. Outside, the last rays of moonlight reflected off the shimmering waves. They dipped and rose like a see-saw, charged the shore then retreated, playing games with the moon watching over head. She smiled as her eyes drifted from the sight, instead scanning around the palace grounds. Everything was quiet tonight, quiet and peaceful, except for the soft scratching sound that made Lara frown. It sounded like nails against a chalkboard, but it was too distant to be shrill. She shuddered nonetheless, and in her slight movement her eye caught a dark shadow in the garden below. It was round and large, but unmoving.  
  
'Simply a boulder for design,' she dismissed quickly. But when a lone moonbeam glinted off a chain around its neck, Lara realized the boulder was really a boy, sitting with his knees curled up to his chin. Compassion filled her normally hard heart, and she couldn't stop the impulse to comfort the child that looked so desolate. Moving with the grace of a cat, Lara began to scale the wall next to the door leading back inside, and with in a moment's blink she was planting her feet softly on the cool ground. Quietly she approached the boy, only to freeze in her tracks a moment later as she heard a click.  
  
" 'Don't move.' " a voice commanded softly in the native dialect. The body shifted, and Lara watched the moon glint off the gun like it danced across his necklace. Stretching out to face her, Lara realized with a relaxed glare what she had walked into.  
  
"Do you always pull a gun on innocent civilians, or do you choose to use such force to claim your women?"  
  
Alex scoffed and put his gun down. "Only for the special ones," he quipped with a shadow of a grin. "What are you doing out here?"  
  
Lara crossed her arms. "Enjoying a stroll around the gardens," she stated with ease, intending not to reveal her true reasons for being out of bed. "You?"  
  
He shrugged. "Couldn't sleep. Nice night. Quiet. Gives me time to think."  
  
"Oh, that would be quite an accomplishment."  
  
"Putting up with you is quite an accomplishment," Alex muttered.  
  
Lara couldn't help the slight cringe that creased her brow, and was thankful for the heavy shadows she partially hid in. "If I'm such a bother, why do you insist on hanging around?"  
  
"What makes you think I'm hanging around here for you?" he retorted coldly.  
  
This time Lara was taken off guard. In all the times they bickered with each other, Lara was always, always the one with the remarks that would freeze a polar bear. Alex was always more laid back, more into the tease than the sting. Now the tables were turned, and Lara didn't like it. Alex cut her off, however, before she could respond.  
  
"There's a world in chaos, thousands are dying as we stand here talking, and all you can think about is you. Don't you give a damn about what's going on?"  
  
Lara couldn't stop the explosion if she wanted to. "What?! What in God's name are you talking about?! Of course I care, you moronic ass, or else I wouldn't be here, would I? And don't you try to convince me that I'm some selfish narcissistic bitch, Mr. West, especially after that run in with the Illuminati! As I recall, you were a little more concerned with the size of your wallet than the size of destruction that could have taken place if Powell was given the power of the light!" Lara stopped and let her breathing even. Where the hell was all of this anger coming from?  
  
"Oh, that's right, everything is my fault! Everything that goes wrong is always my fault! I mean, not that it made any difference that had I've not been at the Temple of the Dancing Light, no one would have found out that the swords were part of the key to getting the triangle. No, wait. I'm sure you, Miss Know Everything would have figured out, but a pity it would have been too late!"  
  
"Had you have not been at the temple, Mr. Powell would never have gotten the clock and I would have been able to get the second piece and destroy the triangle without you getting-" Lara stopped before the words left her, which could have made this argument a bigger mess.  
  
"Getting in the way of what, Lady Croft? Your glory?" Alex misinterpreted, his voice dripping with contempt as he spoke the word. He stood and began to pace toward her.  
  
Lara couldn't help feeling unnerved at the anger in his eyes, but she knew in her heart it was nothing compared to the anger she felt at his attack on her pride. Her hand flew up and she pressed it against his chest, forcing him to a halt as she glared with a fury only he could rouse in her. "Alex…" she warned.  
  
"Stop." His command was simple, heavy, and drenched with emotions which Lara couldn't, wouldn't comprehend. His fingers laced around her wrist, but he made no motion to move her hand. Instead, he only looked at her, stared her down with a determination that confused her.  
  
"What is this about?" she questioned quietly, keeping her anger, and her queasiness at bay.  
  
But Alex didn't answer. She opened her mouth to yell at him, argue with him, make him so angry that he had to walk away, but no sound came out as his hand covered her lips.  
  
"Don't say a word, Lara. Not now." His hand moved away from her mouth but stayed close, drifting back and forth across her chin to caress her cheek.  
  
For a moment, Lara was too stunned by his breakneck speed of change as his anger seemed to have vanished in the space of a breath, to be replaced by a gentle, kindred soul. Unable to stop herself from molding into his caress, Lara fancied the time when this was right. Looking up at him in the moonlight, in a garden of silence, in the dead of night, he was all there, all perfect and…  
  
"All wrong." Lara snapped out of her daze so fast she felt her heart race at the sudden shock of reality. Before she could stop herself, her free hand lashed out across his face, and he stumbled back. Her wrist fell from his grasp, suddenly feeling like ice despite the comfortable night air. She stared for a moment at the hand that tingled, that was no doubt red from the terrible slap that echoed off the walls of the palace, and something in her snapped.  
  
Alex was holding his cheek when he stood back up. "I can never win with you, can I?"  
  
"You can never win, period. Rats like you always come in last." Alex's nod of submission was the last thing Lara expected. She watched in silent amazement as he turned and walked away. For some reason, his retreating form made her wrap her arms about herself, as her mind replayed what happened. She couldn't stop the silent movie, she couldn't stop the small shivers, and she couldn't stop from calling his name out and jogging after him.  
  
He paused and turned, his body tense as if ready to pounce a small prey. "Yeah?" he asked quietly, and somewhat hopefully.  
  
Lara stopped, unsure of what to say. The odd feelings warring in her were familiar, but still unknown, and she wasn't sure where she was trying to take this. So she settled for business over… whatever. "Alex, I don't know what you were out here thinking about, and why you chose to lash out at me for it, but we have a job to do, right?" She sighed as he nodded tightly. "Whatever that was, let's forget about it and focus on stopping this plague. I-I…" Lara stumbled for a minute, and her face began to burn at Alex's loopy grin.  
  
"Yeah?" he asked with a tilt of his blond head.  
  
She steeled herself before continuing. "I need your help, just like you'll need mine, and all of us need to work together on this." Lara noticed his face change at the subtle mention of Chase, but ignored it. "I doubt any of us can do it alone. Do you understand?"  
  
Again, Alex nodded. "I get it. All right. Ok." He sighed heavily. "But it doesn't make it right." His hand moved up as if to touch her, but he pulled away. "After this is over, Lara, I…"  
  
The palace came alive with loud, obnoxious screams of unadulterated joy. "Lara! I got it! I've found the Bow!"  
  
  
  
Lara trotted into the meeting room with Alex on her heels, and Chase just coming around the corner. She looked questioningly at her wiry computer companion as he stood mumbling excitedly over various maps scattered across the table.  
  
"Bryce, what have you got?"  
  
"Yeah, and it better be something good," Chase complained as he draped his arm around Lara's shoulders. "I was having a damn fine dream about a lovely tomb raider in a bikini that I'd like to back to ASAP."  
  
"Really, I always thought Alex was better suited in a one piece." Lara smirked as the two men glared at her. She shrugged Carver from her shoulders, walked over to the map, and gestured for Bryce to begin.  
  
"All right, since we're all here, then," Bryce spoke richly, lavishing his moment of importance in saving the world. "After studying the scrolls, it appears they were written and placed there long after the artifacts had been removed. And by the sound of it, the tales are just rumors, but you need to hear them anyway. I've translated two of the three. One tells of the location of the crescent Bow, the other the location of the arrows."  
  
"And what's the third about?" Lara asked.  
  
"I don't know yet, and it'll take longer to decipher because the pictures are so faded, and it seems that language is older than the other two." Bryce took a moment to roll out a map of the Indian Ocean. "Ok, in the first scroll, there was a tribe of people known as the Sinhalese, who lived on the island of Sri Lanka. Thousands upon thousands of years ago, they were at war with the native people here, in Oman. Apparently, a group of Sinhalese stumbled upon the Sultan's tomb, and removed the artifacts."  
  
"So then they're in Sri Lanka?" Alex cut in.  
  
"Not all of them. According to the first scroll, only the bow was removed, and taken back to Sri Lanka. It was then taken by some religious figure, and placed in a Buddhist shrine in the city's capital of Kandy, now Sri Jayavardhanapura." Bryce paused for a moment, and sighed heavily. "The arrows, however, were taken to a separate place. In the second scroll, it's described that the arrows were given to a group of wandering soldiers of fortune, and taken to a place known as the 'City of Stone.' Translation led that to be Petra, a city built into the sides of cliffs near the river Jordan."  
  
"By helicopter, that's less than a day's travel from here," Alex muttered.  
  
"Yes, but that's not all. In a written document from some 300 years ago, it's believed the arrows were bought by a group of nomad sailors not native to Petra, or any area around that. But where they were taken is not clear."  
  
"Great," Chase groaned grumpily. "Now we have no clue where they are."  
  
"Not quite," Bryce countered. "The way the sailors are described, the language they spoke, and the description of their homeland leads to an accurate assumption of where the arrows were taken."  
  
"And that is?" Chase inquired.  
  
"San Pedro."  
  
Three voices chimed in at once. "What?"  
  
Bryce continued without fault. "Apparently, one of these sailors were related to the Spanish Conquistadors, and took the arrows back to his home in San Pedro. Rumor has it that sailor, just before he died, took a special treasure deep into the forest, and hid it in a cave somewhere in Paraguay."  
  
"That's not very precise, Bryce," Alex clucked.  
  
"No, but it's something," he snapped back.  
  
"Quite true. Anything else?" Lara cut in.  
  
Bryce thought for a moment. "Not with this scroll. I figure information about the arrows can be gained from the villagers in San Pedro, but other than that, I've squeezed out every piece of info from the scrolls I could. As for the last scroll, all I've been able to discern is that there is an inscription on the stone covering the body of Cabala which must be broken by a certain weapon. The arrows, I'm assuming. The sword of Cachexia is also needed."  
  
Lara nodded. "Very well. Alex, you go to San Pedro and find those arrows. Chase, I want you to find the archeologists who took the sword, then go to Delphi and find that tomb. Find the fastest, and safest is possible, way in, radio back to Bryce, then wait for us."  
  
"And you?" Chase and Alex asked at once.  
  
"I'll retrieve the bow, and meet back with you both at Delphi. Bryce, get Leftenant Wells up, and make sure two other planes are fueled and ready to get West and Carver out of here." She paused to look outside to the sky that was brightening. "By this time tomorrow, I want the world safe again." 


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I think I forgot to put this on the others. The characters of Lara, Alex, and Chase are not mine. Other characters, such as Cabala, are mine, and I'm proud of it, thank you. No money is being made off this story, either; it's merely to keep me amused while on Spring Break. :o) So don't sue, thanks.  
  
  
  
Outside, the sultan stood some fifteen feet from the parked helicopter. Wells was finishing the system checks, and a few repairmen gave the signal that everything was good to go. Lara came out and shook his hand, accepting his blessing of luck before walking toward the two jeeps parked in the courtyard. Chase was throwing his bag into the back of one, and Alex was already jumping into the passenger seat of the other.  
  
Bryce linked in just as she came to a stop.  
  
"You got everything, Lara? All the comm links and clips and chemflares and more clips an-"  
  
"I get the point, Bryce." At that moment, she handed Chase his earpiece. "Here we are, gentleman. These links will reach worldwide distances, and are all but bullet proof, to my knowledge. Bryce never did get around to testing it. You'll be able to communicate with him at any time you so desire, within reason." Chase fixed his on his ear as she handed the second to Alex.  
  
He didn't move.  
  
"Alex?" Lara waited as he continued to stare ahead. She called his name again, but he continued to ignore her. So she grabbed his knapsack from the backseat, and whacked him in the head. He practically went through the windshield, which did get his attention.  
  
"Shit! What was that for?!" he snapped.  
  
Lara placed the bag in the back and replied sweetly, "For letting your mind recess back into that dumb state you seem to be in so often. Wake up now, sleep on the plane." She thrust the comm link in his face. "And put this on. It'll keep you in touch with Bryce at almost any point on the earth. Don't lose it. Bryce may be your only way out, or your only way back."  
  
Alex said nothing.  
  
"What?" she asked, his accusing eyes getting the best of her.  
  
No one spoke for another moment then Alex shook his head. "Nothing," he muttered and turned in his seat. "Nothing at all."  
  
Lara raised an eyebrow at him. "Moping doesn't suit you, Alex. Whatever is wrong with you, get it out or get over it. This raid is too important to mess up, and none of us can afford to have you get trapped or killed because your judgment is clouded over by your mood swings." His sudden scowl made her want to smack him one, but instead she reached into her pack and pulled out a little blue box, which she held out to him. "Midol?"  
  
Alex stared in dumb shock for a moment, before a low laugh passed his lips. When Alex looked at her again, his eyes were a little brighter, but something sad still lurked in their crisp depths.  
  
Lara frowned, and leaned in closer. "Something troubling you, Mr. West?"  
  
Alex's breath hitched, and his hands itched to touch her face again, like he did last night. Then he wanted to kiss her, right in front of that fake raider Carver, and declare to everyone that Lara was his, and only his. But he knew that public display of affection would probably render him incapacitated for the rest of the trip, thanks to Lara's quick and efficient kickboxing moves she was so good at. He also knew Lara would never forgive him for thinking she was like an artifact, like a prize to be won. That is, after all, what caused the rift in the first place. Taking something of hers without asking, hell, without even telling. And he couldn't risk losing her again.  
  
"No, Lara," he said with a bright smile that used to melt her to her boots. "Just cranky from lack of sleep. Let's get this show on the road, already."  
  
Lara watched him for another few seconds, nodded, and she hit the side of the jeep. "Good luck, Mr. West, you'll be needing it. Oh, and don't screw up this time."  
  
"Who, me?" Alex called back as the jeep began to pull away. "Never!"  
  
"The same goes for you, Chase. Don't mess up, or I'll have your head mounted on my wall." Lara stared threateningly, making her words sound as true as possible.  
  
"Don't worry about me, Lovely Lara, I survived the Medusa Mask raid we went on, didn't I? This'll be a piece of cake." He winked and threw her a thumbs-up as his jeep pulled away. She waved and signaled for the helicopter to rev up. With a tightening of her pack straps and a last wave to the Sultan, Lara jumped into the back of chopper, and was lifted away into the rising sun.  
  
  
  
Aside from the intense heat and horde of flies that seemed so attracted to her, Lara felt at peace in the large, airy temple. Down in another room, monks sang in low, soothing tones as a small chime reverberated around the walls; the walls that were so smooth and covered in drawings of ancient religious figures and writings of the monks. Lara smiled slightly, admiring the work while tracing an idle hand across the picture of a sultan with beams of light shining from his hands upon a small dot low on the wall, only inches from the floor. As she moved, the dot reflected the sunlight, blinding her for just a moment. She paused, and crouched to look closer. Surprisingly, it was a gem; a diamond, to be precise. And as her fingers traced over the smooth cut edges, it sank into the wall as a low rumbling shook the floor. In moments, the wall had completely disappeared, and she was left staring into a stairway descending into darkness.  
  
"Aha." She pulled a chemflare from her pack and began her way down.  
  
At the base of the stairs, the narrow passageway expanded into a circular room with a low ceiling. In the center stood an odd looking mechanism, like a coat hanger with arms and hands made of circular pictures. The glow from the flare revealed each circular disc to have shades of different sizes upon each. Looking to the floor, she found more circled patterns. As she examined the walls, she found a pair of stones underneath a specific torch, and using the stones in a sharp clap together, the room suddenly became lit with burning candles, all placed on the walls at various heights. It was then she realized how the discs on the floor had the same markings as those on the device.  
  
"The phases of the moon." It was logical, practical, and quite simply an easy solution to be achieved. Line up the phases of the moon to move on to the next puzzle. No sweat. She stepped into the room and raised her hand to move the arms. But she didn't get that far. As soon as her full weight came upon the different colored rock, it shifted, made a terrible grinding noise, and began to shudder beneath her feet. When everything went silent, Lara could make out a distinct ticking noise. Looking up she could see two hands of a clock like contraption slowly inching towards each other. And then there were the spikes coming out of the wall that finished the connection. With each passing minute, the sharp javelins came closer to where they would intersect in the middle, and right in the middle of Lara's body.  
  
Without hesitation, Lara began to pull at the arms to get them to shift around, but nothing seemed to work. They were stuck fast. Frustrated, she took a step back when the quarter moon swirled around in a half arc. She frowned before looking at her feet. She was standing on the quarter arc circle. It clicked in her head. Leaping like a frog across hot plates, Lara figured out the correct number of spins each disc needed to fall into the full moon alignment, and just as she was about to become a candidate for Spaghetti-O's, the arms came to a halt, each picture in it's correct position, and Lara fell as a door opened beneath her feet, the very tip of her braid catching the point of the spear as it traveled over her head.  
  
For countless minutes, Lara slid down a smooth, cool tunnel. As her feet hit horizontal ground, her momentum carried her into a small roll, and then she was grabbing onto the cliff's edge, keeping herself from falling over into the rushing water below. Lara steadied herself and stood, watching with interest the sparkles that danced in the water. More diamonds, it appeared to be. Illuminating the room with a chemflare, Lara could discern a rocky path off the bank of the stream.  
  
With little extra effort, Lara scaled the cliff freehand and dropped into the water. It rose as high as her ankles, nothing more dangerous to Lara than a sprained ankle by stepping on a slippery rock. As she moves down the path, something echoed into her ears. Something resembling a growl. Without hesitation, Lara wrapped her left hand around her gun, and kept it ready in case of any meetings with the inhabitants.  
  
The path was rocky and smelled of ancient years, cobwebs hung in large, delicate weavings from the ceilings, and little crawlers straggled across the floor at her feet. At the end, she reached a door, with a face drawn above. Termites had eaten away at the rotting bark, leaving the picture broken and indiscernible. Putting her gun back and pushing against the door, she found it opened easily to reveal a new cave. It went about 20 feet up, and at her feet was nothing but smooth sand and stone. In the center stood a pedestal. Stepping closer led her to the finding of an ancient bow and three arrows, all made of solid gold.  
  
Moments passed as she studied the treasure. 'A golden bow? Why is there a golden bow instead of a silver? Must be a trick to those who are greedy, or confused.' Noticing a new dark entrance in the back, she carefully made her way across the room when there was a grinding noise and two gold doors rose from the ceiling to lock in front of the exits. Lara's eyebrow arched as she moved her foot to find a small button, no bigger than her thumb, imbedded into the floor.  
  
"Ok." Another noise, this time something winding. The walls began to move. Lara's brow furrowed, until she noticed that certain pictures were moving, all the pictures being of animals. Popular hunted animals. And Lara remembered that Artemis was the goddess of the hunt. With a confident stroll, Lara picked up the bow, tested its weight, and retrieved one of the arrows. Then the walls shook as the pedestal began to sink into the floor. Just before it disappeared Lara seized the two remaining arrows, and placed them in her pack. The ceiling began to lower.  
  
'Terrific.' Instead of spikes, now Lara was in danger of being crushed. So she focused her attention to the rotating creatures. Sizes and speeds varied, and then they began to move up and down, as if they were jumping to avoid the hunter. 'Ok, fair enough. Shoot the animals. But which one?' And then the diamond eye glittered on the antelope. 'Got it.' Lara aimed, pulled back, and let the arrow fly across the room and into the picture's eye, where the jewel was knocked to the floor, and the gold doors sank about 1/3 of the way into the floor. Lara retrieved another arrow, this time aiming for the jackrabbit, and as the shining gem fell, again the doors sank lower. Lara pulled out the third arrow, and was pressed to her knees. She hadn't realized the ceiling had fallen so close, and now she was laying flat on her stomach, turning the bow sideways and taking a last wild look for the third animal. They were moving so fast now that she had trouble keeping her eye on them. Then she caught it, the last creature being the deer, and shooting blindly, Lara struck the diamond dead on, splitting it into halves. Without even taking the time to look, Lara crawled toward the clear passage and squeezed herself into the dark tunnel just as the ceiling crashed to the floor, crushing the gold bow, the scattered diamonds, and her fallen chemflare.  
  
"Well, that was fun," Lara smiled as she stood and dusted herself off. Once again, she pulled out a flare and proceeded onward. Not three minutes passed before she was in a silver room, crescent shaped and airy. Another pillar stood in the center, with a large white crystal in the middle. Various holes dotted the walls, making patters that took Lara a moment to realize were constellations. There were also statues of female figures; Artemis without a doubt, they were. Lara moved over to the closest statue, with Artemis standing proud, a strung bow in her hand, the arrow poised to kill. As Lara delicately touched the stunning piece of work, her fingers moved over a slight incline, followed by angular creases carved into the stone. Blowing at the dust and webs, Lara found a tiny lever hidden in the Crescent moon carved on her crown. She pulled the handle down.  
  
The room lit up in streaks of white and silver. Above, the ceiling began to glow with stars, and distinct patters came into view. Pegasus, Aries, Orion's Belt. Then one star began to glow in particular. It's brightness increased as the pillar moved on its mechanical wheels and came to rest underneath the star. The crystal came into perfect alignment with the star, and there was a swell of light as the edges of the crystal became illuminated, and rays shot off in different directions. Each beam hit a particular picture on the walls, which reflected from a little mirror to make more rays, which were reflected and bounced back to one single spot in the floor. As each ray was directed to that spot, lines of steam rose from the dirt, and soon the floor seemed to burn away from the white fire, and a silver object glinted.  
  
Lara's grin widened as she stepped in between the fading beams, and pulled the Crescent Bow from its resting place. A few moments passed in silence as Lara observed the ancient markings, and the small blue diamond moon that glittered in the very center. Even after thousands of years buried beneath the sand, the bow looked flawless, breathtaking, and incomparable to any other artifact Lara could remember retrieving.  
  
But there was still a job to do. Too big to fit in her back, Lara opted to wrap a cloth from one of the statue's dressings around the object, and she proceeded back through the temple until she came to the passage that led back into the monks' sleeping quarters. Closing the door of the passage, Lara trotted outside to the helicopter and waved for it to start up. Expressing her thanks for allowance into the shrine, Lara paid her respects to the monks and jumped into the chopper as it lifted and set a course for Delphi. 


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Did I even put this thing anywhere? Anyway, those characters added on (like the archeologists and Cabala) are mine. Everyone else is either a Greek God or apart of the Tomb Raider Universe that belongs to Eidos and Paramount…. I think….  
  
Anyway, here's the next part. Hope to have more written soon. Enjoy.  
  
  
  
Alex West jumped from the dirt bike and wiped the sweat from his brow and looked at the map.  
  
"~This place is very dangerous, Senor. Many men have not returned from the quest to find the treasure of Alahandra.~" the guide spoke nervously in Spanish as he stepped off his own bike as well.  
  
Alex smiled. "~This is as far as you take me?~"  
  
"~Yes. I will wait here until nightfall for your return. After that, I assume you are dead, and I head back into the village.~"  
  
Alex nodded. "~All right.~"  
  
"~Are you sure these treasures are good to seek now? With the plague taking over the world?~"  
  
Alex laughed, more to cover his unease at the prospect of world destruction than in humor. "~My friend, if I am to die, than I would rather die rich.~" He checked over his supplies and pulled out his machete, then turned and nodded before departing.  
  
"~Good luck, Senor. You'll need it.~" And the young guide sat in the nearby shade of an old oak tree, and waited.  
  
  
  
For about an hour, Alex walked through the thick underbrush, hacking away at long branches and large vines. In the distance he could make out a soft roaring, and with a sigh of relief, proceeded toward the rushing waterfall. When he finally cut through to the open lake of rushing water, Alex took a few moments to admire the breathtaking view and to pour some water over his sweat drenched body. The coolness seeped into his skin with a reviving feel that helped boost his energy.  
  
"Okay," he muttered softly, and looked again to the map he received from the old mariner at the inn. "Follow the trail, pay homage to the sea sprite, and if worthy be shown the path to the Maze of Mirrors." Alex shook his head. Sea sprite? He looked up at the cascading waterfall, then around at the various rocks protruding from the cliff. He scanned back and forth, up and down then paused before moving his eyes over a section of rock again. The placement of the rocks formed a shadow across the wall, making a striking resemblance to a woman. He moved across the racing water to the other side of the bank. As he set his foot firmly on the small pebbles, one rock dug into his foot the wrong way and he fell to his knees in front of the odd rock formation.  
  
"Ack!" He rubbed his right knee as it began to trickle with a few drops of blood, groaned, and looked up to see a door in the waterfall. He blinked. It was still there. His eyes drifted up to the shadow before him, and for the first time he noticed a rock that was oddly shaped like a hand, a crooked finger pointing in the direction of the falls.  
  
"Oh." He stood and began walking along a thing, slippery rock incline that led behind the rushing water. Surprise, it was a cave, and a rotted door was built into the far wall. Alex pushed against it, and tumbled into a dark pit.  
  
"Shit!" Moments later, he splashed into a large pool, and when he surfaced he found himself being pulled by a strong current. Large rocks stood out of the water ahead, and he barely managed to keep himself from crashing into a jagged boulder that loomed ahead of him. Then there was another roaring sound, and he looked with growing anxiety at the fall he was about to tumble over. He turned and tried to swim back, but the current was too strong, and within seconds he felt nothing beneath him and he was falling…  
  
For about two seconds before he was in another pool. Only this time, there was no current, and he bobbed in the water as he tried to make acknowledgement of his surroundings. He lit a chemflare, and the room glowed an eerie orange. The ceiling was up about 100 feet, the walls were smooth as woven silk, and there was no walkway or path leading out of the water. Taking a deep breath, Alex dove into the crystal waters, and began to search.  
  
As he went deeper, he found shiny objects and tiny fish. Then about 20 yards ahead he could make out a large object. On closer inspection he found a wooden ship, its mast standing erect and its sails torn and bobbing. Alex surfaced to take in another breath before diving again. This time he explored the ship close up.  
  
'Now, honestly, how could a ship this size get into a cave behind a waterfall?' He reached his hand out to glide it along the wooden hull, but his hand went through. 'What?!' The ship wasn't there! Something reflected the glow of the flare, and Alex spotted a number of mirrors in the water, and a small shape that looked like a toy ship. 'An optical illusion of some sort?'  
  
Before Alex could fully comprehend what was happening, something wrapped around his arm and yanked him further down in the water. Alex yelped, making a rush of bubbles float to the surface. He waved and kicked frantically to get free as he came face to head with a large squid.  
  
'Unbelievable!' The thick tentacle wrapped tighter around his arm, threatening to snap it in two, when Alex pulled from his pack a large knife. Slicing desperately, and kicking away the other arms that attempted to grab him, Alex cut away from the squid and swam back, away into the darkness of the rocks below, knowing that going to the surface was too risky.  
  
It was between two large boulders that Alex found a tunnel, and lighting another chemflare he swam frantically into the inky darkness, praying fro an air pocket somewhere ahead. Lungs burning, eyes stinging, and heart pounding against his ribcage, West came into a large room with a mirror that made of the far wall, and he kicked wildly toward the surface. But instead of breaking into sweet air, his head hit a hard surface, stunning him momentarily. Frantically feeling above him his hands moved back and forth, trying to find an opening somewhere, anywhere, but none could be found. It was a dead end room.  
  
His vision was beginning to blur, he couldn't feel his fingers anymore, and there wasn't enough air get back to the surface. His body began to drift, and he watched himself become still in the mirror. The chemflare fell from his hand, and in the mirror it floated around, swaying back and forth beneath the large black opening.  
  
Alex's eyes went wide. In the mirror, he could see an exit that he could not spot in the room. Using his last ounces of strength he swam closer to the mirror, right below the hole, and he pushed himself upward. His head broke through the surface, and gasping and sputtering, his hands grasped a solid surface to which he pulled himself on. After coughing the water from his lungs, and finally regaining even breaths of fresh air, Alex looked up at his surroundings. A narrow tunnel, tall enough for him to walk through, was lit ahead by shafts of sunlight. Overhead, bushes of long grass blades peeked through the ceiling, and wooden shards that were built into the earth. No flare needed, Alex reached into his pack and pulled out a trustworthy pistol before walking down the dirt path.  
  
When he reached the end, it was to a barren room with water rushing in the background. There were no exits, no holes in the room; nothing but a slight slope leading down onto the dirt floor. As he stepped on the slope, the room suddenly shifted. Now it was a large cave with a waterfall at the end, and a deep pit extending hundreds of feet down into darkness. It looked exactly like the cave that brought him in here.  
  
'But how did the room change like that?' He took another step, and the room became a dirt room with a door. A third step, and three sharp beams of sunlight focused on the center of the room, where the three arrows lay crossed on a pedestal.  
  
"Greatness," Alex whispered with a smile. Looking around for traps and triggers, Alex stepped out toward the pedestal, when the room changed again to the room with a door. "Shit!" He stepped back to where he was, and the arrows returned. This was getting complicated. He looked down at his feet, but could see no indication as to how his placement could affect the room. Watching his feet, he stepped to another spot, and this time the room not only changed to the dirt room with a door, but an arrow shot out from above and tore his shirt, leaving a red welt down his left arm.  
  
"I really hope that wasn't poisoned." He ignored the stinging pain and looked up at the where he could see himself looking up, seven pits with spikes, and the arrows in the center of the room. But when he looked down, he saw nothing except a dirt floor and a door. He looked up and moved left, seeing nothing in the mirror change. Looking straight ahead again, he was back to seeing the dark chasm. He looked up and moved left again, closer to a pit with spikes, and let his food slide along the edge. As he looked down, his foot disappeared into the floor.  
  
"Illusions. It's all illusions." But he still didn't get the room changing trick. Deciding to understand that later, Alex kept his eyes riveted to the ceiling as he slowly made his way toward the arrows, continually ignoring the shifting of the room. When he stood before the pedestal, he couldn't see the arrows, but he could feel them, and when he pulled them away from their place of rest, they suddenly appeared in his hand. Intricately carved, perfect in balance, and light in weight, Alex stuffed them into his pack and for the first time really looked away from the mirrors. He was in the cave, and he was walking on air.  
  
"Wowza." He turned his head to the right, and spotted a set of slanted mirrors. Slowly, he turned a 180 to find the room was made up of slanted mirrors, all reflecting a certain image. Ropes were tied to hooks on the bottom, and Alex could surmise that weight displacement on certain parts moved the mirrors to create a new picture and confuse the onlooker. Beyond the slanted mirrors were two rooms; one was a dirt room with a door, the second was a cave. Looking up at the ceiling again, Alex noticed a hole in the back corner of the room. Carefully, he made his way around and found a ladder leading into the earth. He carefully made his way down, walked about in a cobweb covered cave, and about an hour later suddenly fell through a hole, slid down a tunnel, and landed roughly in the slanting sunlight under a willow.  
  
Alex smiled when he realized he was back in the forest, and not far from where his guide was waiting for him. Alex pulled out his commlink as he made his way back to the meeting place, and contacted Bryce.  
  
"I got the arrows. I'll be leaving here inside of two hours. Any word from the other two?"  
  
Crackling but discernable, Bryce replied shortly. "Lara's just retrieved the bow and is on her way to Delphi. Carver is about to land on Crete. It's the only piece of land found not covered by the mist, so inform Lt. Wells to head there."  
  
"Got it." 


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Most of them ain't mine. Story's just for fun. Don't take seriously. I'm a little teapot. We all live in a yellow submarine. Blah blah blah.  
  
  
  
Rising once again, Cabala took note of how smoothly he could move about. When he looked at his hands, he found smooth, unbroken flesh covering the once decayed bones. A deep rumble of a laugh overcame him as he took pleasure in exploring his new muscular body. Satisfied that he was in perfect condition, the ancient warrior turned to a pool of water that swished and trickled down the side of the cracked pillar. He looked inside and focused to conjure up an image of a city. His brow furrowed at the odd metal structures, but he quickly dismissed them as his attention was immediately directed to the people falling on the streets. Green mist swirled in unforgiving fingers of death, touching and chocking everyone within reach.  
  
"And with each death comes new life… for me. And once again, I will wield the power to rule the world!"  
  
"The gods stopped you then, and we will stop you know."  
  
Cabala turned sharply at the new voice that intruded his moment of pride. And there she lay upon his bed of silks, her silver dress flowing in shimmery currents around her silver-sandaled feet. Soft red hair fell about her angled face in ringlets, bringing out the brightness of her woodsy eyes. Set in a firm but delicate line, her pale pink lips pouted at him, sensuously curved down to hide the sharp white teeth that could tear skin in an instant.  
  
Despite his unbeating heart, Cabala felt a pang for her, a desire he once thought dead. "Artemis…"  
  
She rose in one graceful movement of fluid silver, stepping up to him and leaning close enough for him to smell the wood scent of her hair. "This power trip of yours won't last, Cabala. Three have already band together to stop you, and they will succeed. You will be destroyed within two more days."  
  
The Greek demon laughed heartily before waving his arm in a wide arc toward his looking pool. "But your wrong, Huntress. My power grows with every soul consumed, and through the deadly mist the world will crumble at my feet."  
  
"Perhaps, if your magic didn't meet my barrier."  
  
Cabala's eyes turned to slits. "What barrier?" He turned to his water window. "There is no barrier here, Goddess."  
  
"I forbid your plague to cross my tides." She crossed her arms defiantly. "Now you have no way of dominating the whole earth."  
  
"Impossible," Cabala said in confusion. "Poseidon controls the seas."  
  
"But I control the tides. Therefore I have a partial power upon his domain."  
  
His face heating with anger, Cabala commanded to see what Artemis was referring to, and stared in shock and anger at the halted progress of his powerful spell. It could not cross sea water.  
  
"You bitch!" he screeched as he turned on her, a blazing ball of fire swelling in his hand. Then he seemed to calm, and the ball sizzled away. "Foolish girl. Do you really think something so small as your pathetic waves is really going to be able to keep me tied down? I will get around your barrier within days, and then nothing will stop me."  
  
Quite bells rang in the air as she laughed gaily at him. "A couple of days? You won't live that long, Cabala. Already, the weapon that will defeat you has been collected, and they are on their way here to finish this."  
  
"They?" Cabala growled.  
  
"Warriors who will put you down, and return you to your rightful damnation."  
  
"Warriors? I am the only true warrior! And they will realize that once I cut them into quarters!" To accentuate his words, Cabala reached for the Cachexia Sword, only to find it missing. "Where's my sword?!"  
  
"Removed by grave robbers, and taken somewhere safe from your malicious hand."  
  
Cabala glared in shock. Had he really not realized it was never there? "I will rip them to shreds and damn them to an eternity of pain!" Infuriated, his arm flew out in a wide arc to knock over his looking pool, only to watch his hand pass through it. He stared in shock, and tried to seize the pedestal, to see the same effect.  
  
"You will do no such harm, Cabala, as you have not the ability to grasp real objects." She grinned triumphantly. "You're magic is strong, but these mortals are stronger. They will defeat you. Enjoy these moments while you can, demon, for they will be your last." In a silver spark, she was gone.  
  
Cabala stared at his form, noticing for the first time the slight transparency, and thinking frantically at the same time. Then he remembered something, and his growling face became a wide grin. He waved his hand over his looking pool, and a beautiful woman with raven hair appeared, followed by two men with blonde hair and blue eyes. All three looked strong, determined, and fearless, and Cabala couldn't be more pleased with the selection. "Let them come," he whispered to himself. "And as for the rest of those pathetic mortals…" Cabala threw his hands in the air and screamed a chant of articulated sounds and dulled words.  
  
From deep in the earth, the creatures awoke with blood-curdling screams, and the heavens above began to split and melt from the flames of the demon warrior's evil touch.  
  
  
  
"Ok. Lara has recovered the bow, Mr. West has gathered the arrows, and both are getting ready to head out to you. Have you found a place to land yet?"  
  
Chase shook his head, though he knew Bryce couldn't see it. "Everyone strip of land is covered by the green mist. To land is instant death, my friend." Chase stared out the plastic glass to the land below, now tinted green by the airborne plague. As the plane turned over the water, preparing to circle around again, a spot of brown caught his attention.  
  
"Hey! An island!" Chase called up to the pilot, who had just noticed it also.  
  
"That's Crete, Mr. Carver. And it looks to be mist free."  
  
"Right. Bryce."  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Crete hasn't been hit by the plague. Any idea why?"  
  
There was a moment pause before Bryce came back. "No, I can't say why, but I can say don't complain. Land there, and maybe you'll find a way in."  
  
"Already descending." And Chase linked out.  
  
  
  
The island was a panic, with half the population running around and screaming to the sky, and the other half kneeling around and praying in large groups. Chase carefully made his way around the masses, keeping his belongings close to his body and out of the way of the frantic civilians.  
  
'This place is a mad house!' Then, over the din of the hectic streets, Chase could distinguish gunshots. Most people ran for the cover of their homes, but Chase continued on toward the source.  
  
"~This is all your fault, you bastards!~"  
  
"~You've killed us all!~"  
  
"~Give it to us, so we can right this wrong!~"  
  
"~It wasn't us, there's no such things as curses!~"  
  
"~Explain that to our dead!~"  
  
Chase turned down an alleyway to find a large number of farmers surrounding a small group of haggard looking expeditionists, guns and pitchforks waving in the air. Without a doubt, the archeologists had been found.  
  
"~Hand it over or die!~" one large, unruly looking man shouted ruthlessly.  
  
"~This is our find, we will not give it back so it can be broken apart for your selfish money needs!~" a thin man with glasses yelled back.  
  
Three farmers raised their shotguns.  
  
"~Hey, hey wait a minute!~" Chase yelled and stepped forward. "~This isn't necessary. Killing these men won't stop the plague.~"  
  
"~Returning the sword will!~" The farmers cheered in agreement.  
  
"~We don't know that yet, but until we do, I suggest you men return to your families and homes, and wait unti- ~"  
  
"~Wait?! Wait?! For what, American? Death to arrive on our doorstep? I will not do that! I have a family to care for, and I will do whatever is possible to stop this curse from killing us all!~" More cheers from the small crowd.  
  
"~It doesn't matter if you take the sword or not, guys. You can't get it back to Delphi anyway; the plague will kill you first. There's been enough death already. Leave these men be!~"  
  
The crowds protested in loud, angry words, when one man, the most rugged looking of all, stepped up and raised his arm. The mob quieted as they waited for him to speak. "~If this man is so persistent in defending these grave robbers, then I say we let him die with them!~" The crowd roared in agreement.  
  
Chase swallowed as they raised their various clubs, pitchforks, knives, and the few individuals who brought their guns took aim. Sure, he was confident he could take down a crowd of badasses. He'd done it before with Lara, and on his own. But when he only had so many rounds on him, he didn't want to kill anyone, and he was being stalked by a large crowd of farmers who's angry could be compared only to that of a mob of disgruntled post workers, Chase could tell his chances at getting off this island were quickly diminishing.  
  
Then there was an explosion above, and the land became illuminated by a bright flash of red. Everyone reacted by crouching and shielding their eyes. When the brightness dimmed, Chase looked up to see the black clouds that had rolled in, and the red tinge that glowed around the dark thunderheads.  
  
"~What in the name of God?~"  
  
The clouds broke, and rain began to drip upon the islanders; the drops that splashed to the earth weren't gentle pats of wetness. They were thick blobs, tainted red, and they were warm. One drop landed on Chase's hand, and it oozed through his fingers. It was blood.  
  
The village suddenly became silent as they viewed the phenomenon with growing horror and stunned disbelief. To Chase, it was as if someone pressed mute on the world. Then there was another loud rumble, deep and long, that stretched into a high note wail. It echoed from the skies and forced the children and the elderly to cover their ears. Everyone stared at the clouds with wide eyes, mouths agape and breath held.  
  
And from the clouds, great winged beasts of red and black descended with ear piercing shrieks, while Chase felt his whole existence shaken.  
  
Dragons.  
  
A scream erupted as one from the crowds of people, and everyone scattered. Everywhere, people were running in frantic patterns as they ran for cover. Some tripped and fell beneath the wave of feet, and were lost beneath the masses.  
  
Chase watched the angry mob split up and run towards their homes, forgetting their early vengeance on the archeologists who now cowered under a canvas roof leading into the local pub. Seconds later, a huge whoosh roared in his ears, and a strong wind swept Chase off his feet and onto his back. As he tumbled, he caught a glimpse of a scaled belly, black and shiny in color, and the bat of a thin, flexible wing. Another roar, followed by multiple screams, and Chase covered his head from the falling flaming debris of the pub that was no more. He rolled on his back, looked up, and didn't register the scream until he had rolled himself roughly to the left, barely missing the huge block of stone that plummeted to the earth.  
  
I have go to get out of here! He pushed himself on his knees and looked for the archeologists. Three lay on the ground in pools of blood. The others where running from the alleyway in desperate search of safety. There was a glint from the flames of five more small buildings that were torched, which didn't take long for Chase to realize it was the sword. Two more explosions behind him, but Chase didn't notice. His mind focused on getting the sword, and he suddenly burst into a sprint after the retreating robbers.  
  
His speed took him right on the heels of the wailing individuals, and his hand reached out for the hilt of the weapon when the ground quaked beneath their feet. They stumbled and slowed, then tumbled and rolled. The ground continued to shift beneath them, and it shook with a steady rhythm, like a heartbeat.  
  
"Oh, shit!" one of the younger historians shouted.  
  
Chase looked up to see a deep blue dragon coming toward them. It's eyes were inky black save for a spark of red fire in the center. Teeth stained yellow and dripping with blood of those the dragon decided to feast upon chomped and glistened in the roaring flames. The feet were at least ten feet in length, and the legs were muscular and steady. Sharp pointed claws dug into the earth, ripping up roots and crushing small boulders to dust.  
  
"Run!" someone yelled. Without wasting a moment, an older man, perhaps in his late 40's, followed that advice and stood while making way for the forest that was slowly beginning to catch fire. He didn't make it more than ten steps before another dragon, this one of an orange color with silver wings and a thin, sleek body, swooped down and seized the man in its massive jaws. It took again to the air, where a third dragon, red and ferocious, tore at the man's lower half, ripping the body apart and making his blood rain down upon the fires. Chomping indulgently, the two dragons set off to cause more mayhem.  
  
"Albert! NO!" another gentleman screamed in horror.  
  
"That's it," Chase growled as he stood up. "Enough games." He pulled out from his pack an uzi, clicked on the extra clips to his belt, and took aim. Gunfire matched the roar of the demonic beasts, and the blue dragon jerked back with arms and wings flailing wildly. In moments, the creature fell to the ground dead, and its body melted in a pool of its lava condensed blood.  
  
"Carver, 1. Dragons, nothing," Chase chuckled smugly. He turned to assure the archeologists that there was nothing to be afraid of now that he was here.  
  
Instead, he stared into the angry eyes of a new dragon, this one classic green, with blue teeth and the nastiest smelling breath Chase ever had the misfortune of smelling.  
  
"Sh-"  
  
A bang, a loud roar, two more shots fired, and Chase had to jump back to avoid being crushed by the dead creature. The surprised adventurer turned toward the archeologists, who smiled grimly and began firing away at the creatures flying overhead. Chase followed suit.  
  
For long minutes, the men stood back to back in a small circle, firing at the vicious creatures that stomped, crushed, ate, tore, burned, and demolished the village and its people. With a echoing click, Chase looked at his gun to find the magazine empty, and he became even more dismayed when he realized that was his last clip. A look up showed more dragons descending, and he realized standing here until the ammo ran out wasn't the brightest of ideas.  
  
"Goddamn it! I'm out!" one of them yelled.  
  
In minutes, there were copied shouts, and everyone looked at each other in fear and panic. Then there were more thunderous stomps, and three more dragons were rushing toward the band of archeologists. Everyone made the unspoken decision to run. A bad choice. One was picked up and eaten, two more were crushed under the giant feet, and four more were trapped in a breath of steaming lava that flew from the dragon's throat. Their screams were short before nothing was left but a pile of charred bones.  
  
Chase paused to watch as half of the robbers were killed, and he was torn between helping those who were being chased and saving himself. Then he spotted the guy with the sword, and he made a mad dash after him.  
  
He didn't run for long as two dragons landed with a loud crash around the archeologist and began snapping and growling at him. In moments, he was picked up around the waist and was swung around like a dog playing with a toy. The jagged teeth severed the body, and the lower half flew through the air to smash into a tree and fall in a heap of blood and twitching muscle. Between the dragons, the sword fell and lay erect in the dirt between the rivers of blood.  
  
Now Chase had to figure out how to get the sword. Planning on waiting till the dragons flew off was his number one option, until a fat yellow dragon screeched in the air behind him, and charged. Standing still meant death, and Lara would certainly not be happy to hear about that. He took a deep breath, tensed his muscles, and made a mad dash for the sword. Chase knew that such an idea was foolishly stupid, and undoubtedly going to lead him to death. But something was tingling in the back of his mind, the seed of hope that a miracle would happen, and he would walk away with a large sum of money, and maybe a beautiful tomb raider at his side.  
  
Twenty feet. Ten feet. Hot breath on the back of his neck, and the two dragons ahead were watching him with greedy, beady eyes. He pushed himself harder and threw his hand out to grab the sword, tuck his body into a roll, and came to his feet to continue running at a sprint. Just as he stood, the two dragons that stood watching them arched their necks and let fly two giant fireballs toward the tiny prey. However, this prey was a lot quicker than expected, and he got out of way of the flames.  
  
The giant yellow dragon wasn't so lucky, and it screeched as it melted while it cruised into the ground. So intense were the flames that the two dragons were also consumed by the conflagration, and they burned to ashes beside their brother.  
  
Chase ignored the disgusting smell of charred flesh and roasted dragon as he ran through the forest, around the city to keep out of sight of the creatures, and charge for the plane that had miraculously remained untouched, though a ring of fire was drawing closer to it. Chase raced toward it and waved at the pilot who was crouched under the left wing with a rifle in hand. In moments, the pilot was heating up the engine and strapping himself in. Chase closed the hatch with a definitive click, and panting heavily, collapsed in the co-pilot seat.  
  
"Can we get out of here?" he asked between breaths as he scanned the sight of destruction and chaos through the thick glass.  
  
"If we can avoid being seen by those beasts." And they started moving down the dirt runway. They picked up speed and were being their accent into the black sky. Then the top of the plane was thrust down, the nose barely smashing into the dirt had the pilot not regained control a moment earlier.  
  
"Goddamn it! One of those fuckers is on us!" A second later, the ceiling was denting in. "Hang on!" the pilot yelled. He took the plane up and went in a vertical position, then looped, shot down like a bat out of hell, and arched the small plane into a sharp turn that leveled them out upside down. The dragon's body slipped but began to regain its grip. It didn't see the dragon the plane was flying toward until the two creatures crashed into each other, and fell to the ground in a heap. Thirty some people were crushed underneath.  
  
Chase cheered as the pilot swore wildly and took the plane through the sky, managing somehow to avoid the swarm of dragons that continued to bring death upon the small island of Crete. Chase put out of his mind the images of those begin killed by the dragons, and instead looked at the glittering sword in his hands. Now they had all the keys to stopping the plague, and hopefully the dragons. Chase rehooked up his commlink and called for his companion.  
  
"Bryce! Bryce, come in!"  
  
A crackle of static returned.  
  
"Bryce? You there?"  
  
Again, no discernable words.  
  
"Bryce, if you can hear me, this is Chase. I've retrieved the sword, but we have trouble. Dragons are attacking Crete, and God knows where else."  
  
Static, and a then a tiny voice. "…Fire … quake has made us… sea…"  
  
Chase tapped his ear piece. "Say again?"  
  
"… Stroying everyth… ica is being torn ap…"  
  
Chase frowned. "Bryce! You're breaking up! Say again!"  
  
"… Over Delphi… lost West… sac… an in last scr…"  
  
Chase tried to translate the jumbled words in his mind, but he could make no sense of them. "Damn it!"  
  
"It has to be this damned curse of a storm, it's disrupting radio waves!" the pilot yelled over a sudden boom in the sky.  
  
Chase had no time to agree when his ears filled with shrieking cries and crunching metal. His body cringed into a ball and a scream passed his lips as the cabin became engulfed in heat and pressure increased as the plane hurtled in a vertical dive.  
  
Dragons, was the last thing Chase thought before the churning waves came flying up toward him, and with a mighty splash, he sank below the dark depths. 


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: If I didn't own it before, what in the wide world of chocolate covered crscentwich hash brown gummy bear egg rolls makes you think I own'em now? Despite blackmail? :::grins::: That's what I thought… Know what else I thought? Jeramiah was a bullfrog… was a good friend of mine… never understood a single word he said… but I helped him drink his wine… And when I was ROFLMAO drunk… he took my credit card and bought a boat… and cause that new boat didn't shine… he went and bought a diamond rhin… o… b-I- n-g-o, b-I-n-g-o, and Bingo was his name-o… now on with the show… o….  
  
  
  
Word of the green mist being halted at the sea spread through the Americas like wild fire. Thousands of citizens cheered and wept at being saved, though thousands more questioned why. Families listened to the President make a sentimental speech for those who had been lost on the other side of the globe, and that the countries of North America, South America, and Canada should join together to take in refugees from other nations.  
  
Most citizens agreed with enthusiasm to aid any nationality coming into the country.  
  
But they didn't expect disaster to tag along for the ride.  
  
Just as the President was finishing his speech, a warning came across the bottom of the screen, and moments later, a panic ensued across the eastern coast. From a small island near Africa, an active volcano had erupted, causing a massive rock slide as half the mountain broke away and crashed into the ocean with incredible force. Ten minutes later, a giant tidal wave was reported picking up speed and height as it accelerated toward the toward North Carolina and Virginia. Across the Atlantic border, families were rushing towards their cars, taking what few things they could, and packing themselves onto the major highways in a desperate attempt to get west. Traffic jams became numerous, and people became stuck in the line of fire as the wave drew ever closer. Less than an hour later, a phenomenon completely unpredicted by even the best of scholars, over 20,000 Americans found themselves immersed in a huge wall of water that continued to ride erect for sixty miles inland before it crashed and spread across the eastern coast. From the Florida Keys to the base of New York, the Atlantic tsunami engulfed the eastern sea border in its icy, salty wave of destruction.  
  
While people in the west watched in horror, the states along the Mississippi River realized their own danger too late. The river had begun to grow slowly in size, and soon the water of the river began to overflow its banks, and spread across the land. Local towns found water flowing past their knees, and homes were being picked up and dragged away by the rushing river. Then there was a low, undertone alto sound, which few citizens could hear over the clamoring of their own rapid beating hearts. The ground began to quake, and soon the river separating Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Indiana from Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, and Illinois became a widening lake, as the middle of America began to drift apart.  
  
Along the San Andres fault, more quakes and rumbles shook the people as the largest earthquake since the one of 1918 brought Americans and buildings alike to their knees. Fires broke out across the western coast, and they burned more rapidly than firefighters could control. As the quakes intensified, the earth swallowed frantic families, brought down the sturdiest of buildings, and tore the country apart again. Flames rose up from the great fault line along California, lava and ash sprayed into the sky as the tectonic plates separated and California drifted away from Nevada. Oregon was pulled with the great surfer state, and the two states drifted out into the ocean. Thousands were lost in the transition.  
  
Without warning, the quakes and rushing water from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes halted. Time seemed to freeze for those who anticipated more danger. Silence followed. Everyone waited.  
  
Swirling from the seas, something bubbled and hissed, and for those who survived the severing of the world's most powerful country, they were now faced with a new terror. Bony hands rose from the thrashing waves, and soon, zombie creatures with hanging skin, jagged teeth, and blank eyes crawled upon the surface of America with weapons brandishing the air and murder intent in their movements.  
  
The invasion on America had begun.  
  
  
  
"…no new improvement has been made in finding a weapon or vaccine to immunize the green plague. However, a new development in information has been brought up. Scientists have discovered that the mist will not pass large bodies of salt water, hereby declaring at least half the world safe from the deadly disease. People are being encouraged to get on a boat with provisions and sail at least 20 to thirty miles from shore to be safe. Why this phenomenon is occurring has not been solved yet, but researchers are looking into it. Also, the military branches of various countries are working together to evacuate cities that are in immediate danger. All of India and moving into the areas around the Great Wall-" The newscaster became silent as the gentleman at the counter turned off the television. The room became silent save for the few occupants who sat staring at nothing and breathing quietly.  
  
"What does that mean, the plague has stopped at the ocean?" a tired voice asked.  
  
"It means we're safe, mum," Kaitlin answered quietly.  
  
"Are you sure?" the elderly lady inquired.  
  
There was a hesitation in the daughter's voice that clearly contradicted her answer. "Yes."  
  
"Lying is a bad quality in a trusted house maid," her mother chided.  
  
"There's nothing to worry about, ladies. Lady Croft will stop this plague before it gets any worse."  
  
"It has gotten worse, Hillary, and there's been no report from her on the news. She's probably dead," Thomas grumbled. The more pessimistic brother he was.  
  
Hillary felt himself stiffen slightly. "She's fine, Tom. She'll get through this one like she has everything else."  
  
"Of course she will, darling," his mother assured with a smile.  
  
"Did you feel that?" Kaitlin asked softly.  
  
"What?" Tom asked as he took another sip of his vodka.  
  
There was a pause of silence.  
  
"Katie, child, what were you talking about?"  
  
The thirty year-old housekeeper nodded her head. "Nothing, it was nothing."  
  
"Are you all-" Hillary began to ask when the floor suddenly growled and the table began to move across the wooden floor. All around the kitchen, cabinets swayed up and dishes crashed to the floor. Chairs danced around the room, and the television sparked as it, too, fell from its place on the dresser and exploded on the floor.  
  
"What's going on?!" Kaitlin screamed.  
  
"God only knows!" Tom shouted back as he helped his mother with Hillary and they made their way toward the patio doors. Kaitlin followed only as far as the door, before she suddenly fell back into the house with a shriek.  
  
"Kaitlin!" Hillary shouted and ran back into the crumbling residence.  
  
"No!" Tom yelled after him, but his cry fell on deaf ears as the determined forty-year-old butler dived into the house in search of his sister.  
  
The house was groaning in protest as it began to pull apart at the seams as the, and dust and crushed stone fell through the cracks in the ceilings. Hillary's vision became blurred as the dirt and woodchips sprayed into his eyes, stinging and blinding him. He continued calling for his sister, shouting for her to respond, but his words became hard to hear as something above snapped, and there was an awful crash on the second floor. Light fixtures swayed and bulbs flickered, casting frightening shadows on the walls.  
  
"Help!"  
  
Hillary turned sharply to the muffled cry at his left. Below a pile of wood and plaster, his sister's arm lay stretched out, her fingers flexing for a grip on anything. He rushed over to her and began pulling away at the debris. In moments, her dirty face came into view and he could see blood running from a gash at her brow.  
  
"Hill-"  
  
"Hush, Love, you're okay now."  
  
The ground groaned again, this time at a vibrating bass, and there was a terrible trembling that through Hillary to his knees as a thunderous growl filled his ears. The debris began to slip and slide into a dark crack that appeared below his sister, and he only had a moment to glimpse her terrified eyes as she was suddenly swallowed up by the earth.  
  
"KAITLIN!" His own cry echoed in his ears and he had a fleeting thought of what could have possibly caused this catastrophe, before he realized how quickly the gap was expanding, and suddenly he was falling head first into an inky blackness he only knew before in nightmares…  
  
  
  
Lara felt a terrible shiver run through her, as if a warm blanket had been torn from her skin, and a great pang entered her heart. A moment later she grunted as the helicopter was again thrust to the right by a powerful wind that came from nowhere. They were flying over Greece, and it had been only moments before when the sky had turned blood red and black clouds rolled in to make everything become dark and frightening. There were loud crashes of thunder, but no lightning that Lara could see.  
  
"I can't control it! The storm is too strong!" the pilot screamed as they were again tossed like a rag doll in the air.  
  
"How far are we?!" Lara cried back as she tightened her grip on the arm rests.  
  
"Possibly twenty kilometers, give or take a few!"  
  
"Land us here!"  
  
"What?! There's no open space! The blades will be damaged! We could be killed!"  
  
"Just get us down!"  
  
Lara's eyes widened as she looked out the windshield to find dark shadows coming towards them. Her back stiffened and she squinted her eyes to get a better look. Then there was a wail, and a bright ball of orange fire came cruising toward them.  
  
"LEFT!" Lara screamed.  
  
The pilot reacted just in time to avoid all but the tail catching the fireball. Then something whooshed past them with amazing speed, and Lara turned to look out the window at the retreating figure.  
  
"What the bloody hell!"  
  
The cabin bent in on itself, and Lara felt something hot under her feet. She noticed the windows were fogging up slightly, and looked down to find the metal beginning to glow.  
  
"Oh my God!"  
  
Lara's head rose up sharply at the pilot's cry, and she found herself staring in wonder at the glowing red eyes surrounded by thick scaled skin hovering in front of them. A dragon. This wasn't too shocking to her, as she had faced down a dragon on her trip after the dagger of Xian, but this one was flying, and it wasn't created by a dagger to the heart, she was sure. Its jaws opened and its back arched. Already familiar with this movement, and knowing the intense heat that was to come, Lara took the controls and drove the helicopter forward and down on a tilt. In seconds the windshield was splattered with blood as the propellers tore into the dangerous legendary creature.  
  
Though they escaped a fiery death by the dragon's breath, Lara hadn't taken into account the fact that the helicopter was still damaged, and now having smashed through pounds of flesh and bones, the propellers were jagged and slowing. Lights began flashing and controls began beeping as the helicopter spun and descended toward the earth at a dizzying speed.  
  
Lara undid her seat belt and reached for the parachute as the pilot followed her lead. With minutes counting down to seconds, Lara looped her backpack to be held snugly against her stomach, the bow strapped tightly to the pack, and the two mortals jumped from the crashing chopper. They watched the flying machine explode in bright flames while they released their chutes and floated slowly to the small open plain below.  
  
The two landed with quiet grunts, and the bright white cloth sank down to the ground with soft ruffles. Lara looked around carefully while the pilot searched the sky.  
  
"What in the name of God's creation was that?!" Aziz asked in short pants, adrenaline evidently still running through his veins.  
  
"Not good," replied with an absent tone in her voice.  
  
Aziz picked up on it, and turned to her with a questioning look. "What's wrong?"  
  
Lara sniffed. "We're not dead."  
  
"Are you saying that's a bad thing?" he asked with wide eyes, misunderstanding her answer.  
  
She stared at him for a moment. "The plague," she said simply.  
  
Aziz suddenly covered his mouth with his sleeve as fear crossed his features. He had forgotten about that factor when they jumped from the chopper.  
  
Lara shook her head at him. "Don't bother doing that, Aziz. We would have already inhaled it as soon as we had landed, and would be on our way to death… if the mist was still here."  
  
Aziz took a moment to register her words. "It's not here?" he questioned, turning to look around him in confusion.  
  
"The air is perfectly clear, not a hint of green anywhere, and now that I think about it, I didn't see any green fog when we jumped. It's not here."  
  
"What… what if it changed… mutated… and now it's colorless?"  
  
Lara shrugged while removing her shoot and replacing it with her pack. "Well, then we die. But until that time," her braid was flicked back with a noncommittal gesture, "We keep moving." She checked her watch. "7:34 pm." Her head lifted and scanned the area. In the distance, she could make out some tall buildings, and she began walking in that direction. Unable to do much else, the pilot followed silently.  
  
  
  
Cabala watched the two mortals making their way toward the silent town. A grim smile creased his disgustingly pale features. The man meant nothing to him, and would make a delicious appetizer to his growing hunger pain for souls. As for the girl…  
  
"She doesn't look like a problem," he growled to himself, though he kept in mind the heed prophesized by the silver witch, Artemis. Indeed, while he was confident that he could crush any adversary, he didn't just want to kill them. He wanted to make them suffer for thinking they could overcome him.  
  
"And give the rest of those mortals a taste of real terror," he chuckled. His hands rose in the air as another incantation whispered past his white lips. Bright, crackling energy sizzled between his open palms, and with a might thrust of his arms, he brought his arms down and the spell punched through the dirt floor and dissipated into the ground. Several seconds passed in silence before a low rumbling made the room quake.  
  
Cabala's maniacal laughter mingled with the roars from below.  
  
  
  
Alex West watched the brewing storm with wary eyes from the small fiberglass window of the minute speeding airplane. It was about an hour ago when the clouds had rolled in across the water, and he became concerned at the sporadic bolts of lightning that descended from the bloody clouds in quick, strong currents of electricity. He had gone up to the cabin to talk with Lt. Wells on their location and had learned that they were about an hour from their destination. He checked his watch. 7:40 pm.  
  
"Shit," he muttered. A terrible feeling was weighing down on his chest, a foreboding that made him nervous, anxious, fearful, emotions he wasn't familiar with while he was raiding. He looked at the arrows shinning from his pack, and his worry continued to grow. Something was going to happen that would bring the world no goodwill.  
  
And Alex couldn't help feeling the Tomb Raiders would be to blame.  
  
"Mr. West!"  
  
Alex looked toward the cockpit. "Yes?" he called as he entered.  
  
The built Navy officer gestured for the raider to sit in the copilot seat. "I think you need to hear this."  
  
Alex sat and looked at the small radio that was transmitting a national report.  
  
"…Thousands being killed by the hour. No one knows what exactly is taking place in America, as all attempted news broadcasts have failed. Phone lines are down and no communication is getting into or out of the country. From satellite images, we have been able to discern that the United States of America has now been broken from one continent into three. Scientists are predicting the states of California and Oregon will be wiped out by the flooding water from the melting of the polar caps in the north. Canada is also predicted to be flooded within two days from the rapidly melting glaciers. Central Americ… no survi… ica's Amazon forest has been burned t…"  
  
Static began to break into the transmission, but Alex didn't really notice over the pounding of his heart. His homeland was being destroyed. His America was torn apart and thousands of his people were being slaughtered by Cabala's quest for total annhilation.  
  
He became enraged with the need for blood, to seek revenge on the bastard that caused so much death and mourning. Yet, as rapidly as that anger simmered, it dissipated to leave a depressing state of emptiness. 'Even if we do win, if he is destroyed… what will be left of the world to salvage?'  
  
The plane tilted violently. Alex, not being strapped in, was tossed to the side and nearly out of the chair, and his head smashed against the curved wall of the cockpit.  
  
"Fuck!" Lt. Wells pulled on the controls to right the plane, and made a wide turn to see what had hit them.  
  
30 meters away, sea water gushed from the frigid waves like a fountain, raising hundreds of feet in the air. Below the geyser, a thick whirlpool began to sink in the middle of the sea. A dark shadow trembled below the turbulent waves.  
  
"What the hell…" Alex whispered as he watched more water burst in slanted fountains, and a large green snake rose with a loud hissing sound that could be heard over the whirl of the plane's engines. A moment later, another green serpent ascended to the sky, then a third, a fourth, and a fifth. They weaved and snapped between each other before slowly moving away and hissing at the sky. Slowly, from the dark, black ring of water between the twining creatures, a gargantuan green mass rose from the depths. Scales and barnacles specked the curved object, and as water poured in large currents from between gills and scales and bone, two large slits, both about 8 feet long, opened to reveal yellowish black eyes that immediately focused on the speck of a plane flying in circles.  
  
"Sweet angry Jesus…" Lt. Wells muttered.  
  
The head continued to rise further into the sky, revealing shoulders as wide as ten football fields, and then two massive arms with long, sticky scales and sharp claws. Two more arms rose underneath that, only these had no fingers and claws, but sharp, pointed edges that resembled blades. The gigantic sea creature rose a few more feet, making its torso come into view. Green and scaly like the rest of the body, it was a massive trunk of muscle, with a large slit in the middle that opened to reveal jagged rows of teeth, and two smaller snakes that reached from inside the mouth, their mouths snapping and snarling at each other. Finally, the creature ascended no more, and it stopped at a height of 30 building stories. It's many appendages lifted toward the black rolling clouds, and a loud, earth shattering roar erupted from its might mouth, that continued for many moments before failing down into a high-pitched scream and a dying hiss.  
  
"Well, that's a hell of a thing," Alex commented softly.  
  
"You're the tomb raider, what is it?" Lt. Wells asked as an escape strategy began to form in his mind.  
  
Alex shook his head slightly. "I'm not exactly sure, but I'd say it's a leviathan. A sea creature described in the bible."  
  
"That's one old son of a bitch."  
  
"Yeah, and it doesn't look too happy that it's just been woken up." As soon as the words were out of his mouth, three serpents charged at the little plane with gaping jaws.  
  
Lt. Wells, already trained in diversionary tactics, dodged to the left, tilted the plane up to narrowly miss being knocked to the water, and executed a sharp turn that brought two snakes' heads smashing into each other. They withered and sank into the water, momentarily stunned.  
  
"Yes!" Alex shouted. Too soon, of course, for the third snake rammed its head into the tale of the plane, and the small vehicle went sailing through the air at an odd angle, and with a slight spin.  
  
"Fuck me!" Lt. Wells cried out, but yanked back the controls in time to avoid crashing into the massive hand that was stretched out to seize them. Other limbs began swinging at the plane that circled the creature, looking much like a child swatting at a fly.  
  
"What are you doing?!" Alex cried, noticing the enraged movements of the monster as it became more and more aggravated.  
  
"Looking for a weak spot!"  
  
"And it's going to make us a flat spot if you keeping pissing it off!"  
  
Another limb wooshed by, causing a fantastic wind that made the plane falter in the air for just a moment. Alex rocked in his chair before putting his arm against the wall to steady himself. Lt. Wells regained control and flew again in a wide arc away from the creature. Without hesitation, the Goliath of the sea began following, it's tentacles and clawed hands reaching for the plane as it drew closer.  
  
"Shit! We can't let it follow us to land, too many civilians!" Wells swore under his breath.  
  
"It doesn't matter if it follows us to Greece, no one's alive there! And maybe it can't be out of water, so it could put us at an advantage."  
  
"Maybe? It could? I thought you were an expert on things ancient and mythological?"  
  
"Ancient artifacts, not mythological creatures!" Alex countered.  
  
Wells sighed heavily. "If we do let this thing follow us, and it changes course to attack Africa, what then?"  
  
Despite the opinion it gave, Alex shrugged in a nonchalant gesture. "Then we call in the marines… right?"  
  
Wells gave West a sharp glance, a grim smile, and a tight nod. He steered the plane back on course for Delphi, watched carefully as the creature followed suit, and reached for his radio. 


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: Not mine, never was mine, but it's fun to play with. Only Cabala is mine… and Lt. Wells, that sexy stud-muffin from the Navy…  
  
Note: Sorry for the delay, I'll try to keep it from happening again.  
  
Bodies. Nothing but bodies, pale and decaying. The sight made Lara's stomach churn, but she pushed her will past the nausea and continued walking through the muted town. Everything looked frozen in a painting, with stands of fruits and trinkets along the alleyways, and rugs and clothes hanging from horizontal lines of string up above. Yet the place held the morbid taste of the devil himself, with the eerie silence and unmoving victims laying askew upon the ground.  
  
"God have mercy on us all," Aziz whispered softly to himself.  
  
Lara felt a grip on her heart, something she wouldn't admit to anyone, even herself. But the fear was still there.  
  
She shook herself mentally and focused her sights ahead. A jeep. A good sized jeep. Though nothing to her on own Land Rover, it would do the job. She walked over and checked the gas. Three quarter tank. No damage to the vehicle. No keys. She smiled, threw her bag in the back and sat in the driver's seat. Reaching down, she opened the small panel, pulled down the wires, and hot-wired the jeep into life, finally breaking the lack of sound with a loud roar and falling to a steady growl.  
  
"This will do nicely," Lara said simply, and gestured for her companion to get in. She tapped her earpiece. "Bryce."  
  
Silence.  
  
"Bryce, wake up."  
  
"Lara?"  
  
"No, the President of Barundi. I was calling to ask if you'd like to have a cup of tea with me tomorrow at four."  
  
"Lara, my monitors are half destroyed, I lost track of West somewhere over the Atlantic, and Carver's plane crashed into the Mediterranean about 60 meters from the shore of Greece about an hour ago."  
  
Lara's eyes closed as Bryce updated her. Things were not going well at all. Two fingers closed over the bridge of her nose as she continued listening.  
  
"Some electrical disturbance kept interfering with our waves, and I could barely hear what he was saying. All I could figure was something about the sword and being under attack. As crazy as it sounds… I thought he mentioned something about dragons, too."  
  
"Yes. There are dragons involved. Are you still at the palace?"  
  
"No. The palace is gone, swallowed in a recently discovered pit of quicksand. When the land began breaking apart, the Sultan had us moved onto a number of ships and we're now floating out in the middle of the Indian."  
  
"Probably safer out there."  
  
"I don't think any place is safe anymore. America is being torn to shreds by some unknown force. No broadcast is able to leave the country, or no one's making a broadcast, and all we have are video images to get an idea of what's happening. North America has now been split into three different islands, and a giant tidal wave hit earlier this afternoon, taking out millions of citizens along the eastern coast."  
  
"Bloody hell."  
  
Aziz, who had been sitting quietly and listening to the conversation, turned his face to the sky, put his hands in a gesture of 'why me', and asked, "Could it get any worse?"  
  
The roar of the ground drowned the roar of the jeep's engine as the earth shook. Buildings cracked and fell while the leaves of the tall trees trembled and drifted in sheets of green.  
  
Fifty feet away, a mound of dirt began to rise up in dome of soil. Lara watched with her breath held as the pile grew in length and height, until a set of fingers followed by a thick palm broke through the top of the dirt pile. More hands followed the first, until Lara counted at least twenty waving in the dying light. In one fluid movement, the hands bent down and the fingers dug into the earth as they pulled the ground apart. A long, black slit cracked the earth, and Lara jumped the jeep into reverse to miss falling into the crevice.  
  
"Sweet Jesus…"  
  
Together, the two watched in silent awe as a hundred hands came waving into the air, griping into fists or swatting at the wind with giant open palms. Then a boulder lifted, and with open eyes and gaping mouth, the Tomb Raider could discern the face of a man with brown eyes and a rugged beard hanging down into the dark split in the earth. He screamed something she couldn't understand, but quieted as his eyes locked upon the jeep.  
  
"Oh, shit!" Aziz muttered.  
  
"Lara, is everything all right over there?"  
  
Lara's intended reply never came when three giant fists came crashing down at the jeep, all missing, but the force of hitting the ground made the jeep jump. Not waiting to see what would happen next, Lara put the jeep into gear and tore out of the city, leaving the giant swearing in an unknown tongue.  
  
"Lara!"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Something just came up on my screen. Something really big."  
  
"Yes, we just left him."  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
A tree fell in front of the jeep, and Lara made a sharp right to avoid crashing. "The big thing on your screen I believe is Briareos."  
  
"You're in the ocean?"  
  
Lara's eyebrow lifted. "What?"  
  
"Wait a minute, you're here on la- Oh, bugger."  
  
"Bryce, get to the point." From behind, Lara could hear loud stomps and the cracks of trees being torn from their roots and crashing to the trees around.  
  
"I just found Alex. He's flying toward Greece, coming in at the southern tip of the Peleponnesisos Mountains. And he's not alone."  
  
Her eyes widened. "Are you saying there's something big following Alex?"  
  
"That's about the same size as the thing following you."  
  
"Swell." The jeep jumped as it ran over a hill and bounced on some rocks along the dirt path. "Give me my location, Bryce."  
  
"Um… You're about 12 kilometers south east of Delphi, and driving straight toward the Mediterranean."  
  
"Get in touch with West and tell him to bring the plane around to the northeastern side of the island, right to where we'll meet up."  
  
"Are you insane? You're going to bring both these things together?"  
  
"And hopefully they'll take care of each other. Get back to me quickly." And Lara linked out to keep her focus on the rocky road before her.  
  
  
  
Alex sat silent for a few moments as a voice came over his commlink. Lt. Wells kept the plane level and full speed ahead, always keeping a careful eye on the wailing creature drudging along behind them.  
  
"No. No, I think I get what she wants to do. Where does she want us to go? Go it." West recited the estimated coordinates to the Lt., who estimated the distance and time left till arrival. "We'll be there in 15 minutes."  
  
"Does Lady Croft have a plan to take this bastard out?"  
  
"I hope so."  
  
"Good, because our fuel is almost gone."  
  
Alex looked at the gauges and the needle that was steadily falling toward the large printed E. "Shit. Will we have enough?"  
  
"We better."  
  
  
  
The surge of cold water sent his body into a state of shock until Chase focused his mind enough to overcome it. Everything was shaking and spinning, then floating around him, and little particles drifted around the tiny cabin. Foam rose up in a rushing current until it covered his head. Now the sounds changed. They were deeper in tone and more distant. Almost like being in a dream. Everything slowed down, grew quiet, became calm.  
  
The pilot's arm smacked into his face, bringing Chase out of his half conscious dream. His eyes, blurry in the seawater, could still discern the object the floated over his head and bounced along the ceiling. It was severed, joints and tiny veins were waving like seaweed in the frigid water.  
  
The sickening sight burned away the fog in his mind. He looked at the pilot sitting next to him, dead, with blood clouding the water red. The pain in his chest reminded him of his depleting air, and he jerked open the lifebelt to float away from the chair. His body drifted in the cramped space, smacking ever so often into the walls and boxes floating around. Nailed into the wall at the back near the door was a box that held emergency devices. One was a floatation jacket, another a box of flares, a third was an inflatable ball with a sting that could pull an individual to the surface. Chase pulled the flares and the inflatable ball out. He hooked them under his arm and swam toward the door. Something flashed in his mind, and he dove for the floor. Desperately he searched for the sword, felt icy metal touch his trembling hand, and lifted the dull weapon from the floor.  
  
Spots of black and white static crackled at the corners of his eyes and his heart pounded into his chest, urgently reminding him of the lack of sweet air he so needed. His hand searched along the wall for the door handle. Once located, he jerked back with all of his might.  
  
It wouldn't budge.  
  
He tried again, using his shoulders and back to make more force. And again, it didn't move. The world around him was half gone now, the burning of his lungs causing the most sever discomfort that made him just want to bang and scratch at the door in a desperate attempt to get out. In a final attempt to escape, Chase lifted his body in the water, planted his feet against the wall, and griping the handle, shoved off with his legs to push himself into the opposite wall.  
  
The door slid open part way. Nearly crazed with relief, the raider planted himself against the wall to push the door open wide enough to slip through, and as soon as his upper body was out, he yanked on the cord to inflate the ball that immediately began drifting to the surface. He floated up between the blades of the sinking helicopter and blew out the last bit of air in his lungs. Though everything around him was unclear and foggy, he could just make out a dark shape swimming in the water; a mammoth shape that sent a chill of dread through his body.  
  
His body broke through the raging surface, and all focus was lost except on the seizing of air and the struggle to stay afloat.  
  
  
  
The shore lay just over the crest of the next hill, and Lara gunned the engine to full speed. Once at the top, the ocean came into view, and the passenger next to her gasped in abhorred horror.  
  
50 meters out, and closing fast, was the largest half serpent half dragon creature Lara ever imagined. It's tentacles swished from side to side, spraying water and building massive waves that crashed into the shore with agonizing force. The size of the beast easily matched that of the Greek myth trailing behind her. About 10 meters ahead of the powerful monster was a white speck that was diving for land.  
  
"Bryce, come in."  
  
"Present."  
  
"Tell Alex to land on the south shore, we're driving along there and he should easily see us."  
  
"Got it."  
  
Lara turned the jeep down onto the beach and blew up the sand in a whirlwind behind her.  
  
"What are you planning to do to get rid of these things?!" Aziz shouted at her over the whipping wind.  
  
"Whatever comes to mind!"  
  
Aziz was not comforted.  
  
"Any word from Carver?" Lara asked suddenly.  
  
Bryce seemed hesitant before answering. "Nothing but static."  
  
Her heart sank a little lower, and her grip tightened on the wheel. If we got this far just for him to drop out now…  
  
A loud whir buzzed overhead and the plane flew past, a dark liquid seeping from its belly in a few drips every few seconds. Lara watched it circle round, obviously looking for a place to land. She couldn't let that happen.  
  
"Bryce?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Can you hook me up to Alex's link?"  
  
"Yeah, hang on a sec… Ok. Switching you over… now."  
  
"Alex?" The jeep jerked to the left to avoid a sudden sand dune.  
  
"That is the ugliest damn thing I've ever seen. What the hell is that? And what the hell is that woman thinking, bringing these two bastards together? Is she out of her mind?"  
  
"Briareos, thinking carefully, and no."  
  
"…What…"  
  
"Briareos, the 100 handed creature that freed Zeus from the hundred knots Hera chained him down with during a rebellion. Became Zeus' most trusted servant Though later on he lost Zeus' favor in a rebellion of giants, and was thrust into the underworld for all eternity with Typhon, the hundred headed serpent. Sound familiar?"  
  
"Show off."  
  
"Can't help it if you slept through Ancient history class. That must be why you have to steal all of my finds and claim them as your own because you're too ignorant to learn the facts yourself."  
  
"Did I catch you at a bad moment?"  
  
"Any moment with you is a bad moment."  
  
"If you're done arguing, children, perhaps we should now focus on the big things that are chasing you both, hmm?"  
  
"Thanks for the tip, Brycie."  
  
"Brycie!"  
  
Lara made another sharp turn to drive around a pile of rocks that tumbled from Briareos' attempt to crush them with a rockslide. She shifted her gaze to the sea and gaged the distance left between the sea monster and the shore. Not much time was left, and once that creature got on land, assuming it could, her options would drop to few. It was time to put her plan to action.  
  
"Alex. Don't land."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Stay in the air, I need you to play the distraction."  
  
"We're low on fuel, so I don't think that's a go."  
  
"You're going to be low on life if you don't do as I say. You have to keep the creatures away from me long enough for me to set up the weapons in my pack."  
  
"I don't think your guns are going to do much against those things."  
  
"I'm not using my regular guns."  
  
"Oh. Then what the hell kinda weapon are you gonna use?"  
  
"Don't worry about that. Just keep them away from me."  
  
A pause. "You just want me to be the first casualty cause you're still pissed about the prayer wheels."  
  
Lara smirked. "Damn, maybe there is a level of intelligence in that beer induced peanut you have the nerve to call a brain, hmm?"  
  
"You want me, don't you?"  
  
"I want you to start sticking to Briaeroes and the other creature-"  
  
"Leviathan."  
  
Lara looked over at the creature, calculated the appearance in her head, and nodded. "You figured that out yourself, Mr. West?"  
  
"Yes, see? I did learn something in Ancient History."  
  
"I'm applauding you graciously. Remind me to give you a gold star after class."  
  
"I want a lollipop."  
  
"I'd like to give you a pop, right across the smirk that's on your fa-" Lara's words suddenly cut off as the jeep jumped into the air by three feet as Briareos jumped from the low cliff and onto the sinking shore. It's heavy steps made the jeep tremble, and Lara tightened her grip on the wheel to keep steady. A quick glance to her left showed Leviathan stepping across the shallow water, it's once massive form now being gargantuan beyond all probability and practicality.  
  
"Alex, start luring them closer to each other by weaving between them. Keep their focus on you!"  
  
"We're on our way."  
  
A dark shadow fell over the speeding jeep as the plane shifted direction and headed for the hundred-handed monster. Leviathan, having never removed its eyes from the small white object, immediately gave chase.  
  
  
  
Inside the small plane, Alex watched with wary blue eyes as the creature's blocked the aircraft. Long, hairy fingers upon the thick, burly hands that swam through the air with jerky movements of anger and power made his heart thump a little harder.  
  
"I hope you're good at avoiding lots of flying objects," Alex muttered.  
  
Next to him, the black naval officer laughed heartily. "Diversionary tactics was my favorite class." As if to demonstrate his skill, when a limb of the great Briareos swerved at them, he pulled a vertical spin with a quick horizontal twist that brought them level again, narrowly missing getting smacked. "Closed course, only one hundred hands to avoid, no problem."  
  
The plane jumped and tilted to the right at a sharp angle, suddenly nose- diving for the sand. Wells grunted as he pulled the gears up sharply, bringing them level again.  
  
"Momentarily forgot the sea creature?"  
  
"…"  
  
  
  
"What are we doing?" Aziz asked, his hand gripping the door of the jeep to keep from falling out as Lara made a sharp 180 and slid the jeep behind a circle of rocks. She braked and the two passengers bounced in the thick leather seats. Not a moment later, she was out at the side of the jeep, throwing her pack onto the ground and zipping it through it. Silver glinted in the fading light as rouge clouds rolled in across the horizon. Click after click was audible just below the pounding of monstrous feet and roaring wails of the two monsters struggling to capture the annoying plane.  
  
Aziz unbuckled his belt and shifted over to see what she was doing, and his brow furrowed in confusion at the small weapon she held in her hand. The barrel was twisted and locked into place, and she flicked it open in the center to show an empty chamber that could fit on massive sized bullet.  
  
"What kind of a gun is that?"  
  
"Nothing of the sort," Lara answered briefly, her mind more focused on pushing the cigar shaped metal object into the chamber. She smacked it closed, pulled on a switch that locked it into place then removed a small remote from the bag.  
  
"What the devil?"  
  
Keeping low with her back against the rocks, she ran across the sand and out into the open with the gun-like device in her hand. She tripped in the sand, rolled onto her knees, then set the gun at her shoulder. One finger pressed a small blue button on the remote, and a plastic target panel clicked out in front of her eye. She focused on her target, zoomed in about 10 meters, and in one graceful movement, pressed the red button that exploded the rocket across the shore. Her body rolled back onto her rump from the force, but she was able to follow the mini missile as it soared straight into the leg of Briareos.  
  
The beach rocked her right through her combat boots. Rough skin, tufts of hair, and blood rained down from the gaping hole that was once the kneecap of the 100 handed monster. It roared and teetered, it's hands flailing for balance. Without anything to grip upon, the giant fell forward and landed full force upon the infuriated sea creature. The rammed into the ground with enough force to make Lara's body fly up two feet in the air. A tower of sea spray soared and rained back down in a spectacle of sight and sound.  
  
"All right, Croft! Good shot!" Alex's voice cackled happily over the commlink.  
  
"Lara, Lara, are you there?"  
  
"Yes, Bryce."  
  
"What the bloody hell was that?"  
  
"I was testing your hand held bazooka."  
  
"You mean the Pocket Launcher?"  
  
"I am NOT calling it a Pocket Launcher."  
  
"Name aside, how did it work?"  
  
"Fantastic, though it could use a resistance mechanism so I don't fall on my ass every time I shoot it."  
  
"It has been dully noted. Did it take out the two Godzillas?"  
  
Lara looked through the swirling sand and crashing waves, but could discern nothing. "West?"  
  
"They're both down… but moving. They're still alive, though struggling to get up, and both look very very mad."  
  
Lara looked at her pack. She was out of firepower strong enough to have a chance at destroying those creatures, and that left minimal options.  
  
"Alex, does it look like they'll be able to get up?"  
  
"I don't know, the big green one's having some-Oh, shit."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Leviathan just killed Briareos, I think. The snakes went straight for the jugular. He's bleeding pretty bad and he's going limp. I get the feeling he's done for."  
  
Lara smiled. "One down."  
  
"And one really pissed off prick to go. Any ideas, Lady of the Raid?"  
  
"I don't see you helping any."  
  
"Because you're always the one with the plan that works!" A pause. "Shit!"  
  
"You planted yourself right into that one."  
  
"Shu-" Alex's words suddenly stopped when he gave a loud yell and went silent.  
  
"Alex?" Lara looked up at the plane to see it faltering in the air. "Alex!"  
  
  
  
Beeps and alarms were sounding all around him in the cabin as Alex tried to keep himself up right in the seat. "What's happening?"  
  
"Out of fuel! I can't keep control of the plane!"  
  
"Can we land?"  
  
"I tried lowering the wheels, but the gears are jammed!"  
  
"We jump?"  
  
"We jump! But we use it to our advantage!"  
  
Alex looked at his companion, confused. "How's that?" His eyes shifted to the creature that was getting to its two powerful feet, and a light went off.  
  
"You gonna crash into him?"  
  
Wells smiled cruelly. "Something like that. Go to the back and get the chutes ready."  
  
West nodded and made his way back, talking back to Lara about the new plan. Ten minutes later, as the plane was descending toward the land, Wells made a turn to head for the water, set on the autopilot, and ran toward the back. West was all ready, his pack strapped tightly around him and his knapsack of arrows tied firmly to his chest.  
  
"Let's bail!"  
  
The door flew open, wind rushing into the back with blinding force. West jumped out first, letting his arms spread wide and his feet float behind him. Wells jumped a moment later, and the two fell like shooting stars toward the sand. Their chutes released at the moment of impact, where a blinding light exploded at the monster's knees, and currents of electricity sparked from the monster's scales. It screamed in agony as its body tensed and jerked with the powerful volts.  
  
There was another volcanic blast, and sand flew up for miles into the sky, blinding the world in a haze of brown and white. When the dust cleared, the creature was floating face down in the water, its limbs listless and smoking.  
  
  
  
Icy cold and swallowing in gulps the size of his body, Chase was bounced along the waves like a pinball. His body rose and fell, broke the surface for a second to get a quick gulp of air, and was dragged down into the swirling sand once again. Time was lost in this dance of death, until something ran into his legs with such force that Chase was stunned and close to smashing his head into the same object. When the world stopped spinning around him, he realized he was crashed into the shore, with only about three feet of water rising around him. Weary, confused, numb to the comfortable climate, Chase took a few steps across the sand and collapsed.  
  
So exhausted was he that even a massive explosion a moment later didn't rouse him from the dark sleep that claimed him.  
  
  
  
And from the black depths, hundreds of feet below and 30 kilometers from shore, 100 heads gobbled predators of all kinds as their body made its way back home for a final feast of human flesh and blood. 


End file.
